Keep It Together
by DeviousGypsy
Summary: Unknown to anyone else, Starscream is a young Seeker. So when he hits his first heat cycle, he has no idea how to handle it. His trine tries to help but the plan falls apart...  Full summary and warnings inside
1. Chapter 1

**Title:** Keep It Together

**Author: **DeviousGypsy

**Summary:** Unbeknown to anyone else, Starscream is a young Seeker. So when he hits his first heat cycle, he has no idea how to handle it. His trine tries to help but the plan falls apart and brings Megatron and Starscream together in a strange way...only to have Starscream ripped from Megatron's servos.

**Warnings:** Slash, mech-preg, the like :P

**Pairings:** Megatron/Starscream, Thundercracker/Skywarp

**Chapter:** I

**Notes:** Orn = Roughly 4.7 Earth days, Vorn = 83 Earth years

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><p>Despite his attitude and ego, Starscream was a young Seeker, vorns younger than his trine mates. So it didn't shock either of the two when they found their trine leader curled on the bed unwilling to move. Sent by Megatron after Starscream had neglected to show up for monitoring duty, Thundercracker had a slight hunch as to where he was and what was going on.<p>

When they walked into Starscream's quarters it was silent except for the sounds of Starscream's cooling vents on high, trying to cool the overheated mech. Skywarp immediately brightened, running into the sleeping area of the rather roomy quarters. Starscream lay on the berth, long legs curled to his chassis with his arms keeping them there, his whole frame quivering. The black and purple Seeker hurried to the side of the berth, making sure not to jostle the rather confused mech too much.

"Aw, 'Screamer!" Skywarp called, seemingly too happy for the rather uncomfortable pain Starscream was going through. Had Starscream not been so afraid to move he probably would have clawed the stupid smile off his trine mate's face.

"You have no idea what's going on, do you?" Thundercracker asked, sympathy showing clearly on his face. And Starscream didn't know which irritated him more, the excitement on Skywarp's face or the pity on Thundercracker's. Either way it seemed his irritation towards them was at an all time high, biting back a hiss at them, he simply shook his head at Thundercracker's question.

Skywarp was practically bouncing up and down, "It's you're first heat! All Seekers have 'em when they it a certain age!"

"Heat?" Starscream asked, optics dimming in confusion.

"Yeah, it's when you're ready to produce sparklings! Every Seeker goes through it, it's no big deal," Skywarp waved his hand as he made a motion of brushing it off. Though to Starscream it certainly sounded like a big deal. He wasn't aware of this! Of course there was a war, and Vos was destroyed before any true Seeker could really tell him what to expect as he grew older. What a terrible thing this 'heat' was, uncomfortable too. Every small movement brought an ache to an area he wasn't even aware _could_ ache.

"How-how long does it last?"

Skywarp gave him a little shrug, "Only about an orn, unless you get sparked, then it stops."

Starscream had to bite back a whine at that, an orn? Megatron was going to kill him if he didn't show up for monitor duty again, but Starscream couldn't risk being in front of everyone like this. Now he could recognize the tingling in his protoform as the phantom feeling of someone else's servos running over his frame.

He was a pristine mech, had never let anyone touch him in an intimate matter. And yet now that seemed to be all he wanted, it disgusted him. His mind wanted his body to be touched by no one until he found the mech or femme that was good enough for him, yet his body wanted anyone, anyone that could release the ache. "Why doesn't it happen to you two? You're Seekers!" He cried, trying to get his mind off of what his body wanted..._needed_.

Thundercracker prevented himself from expelling air out of his vents in a sigh. He vaguely remembered what it felt like his first heat, though it was a long time ago. "Skywarp and I are bonded, it doesn't effect us as much. Granted we both go into something similar to heat when we're ready to be sparked, but we get through it together, satisfying each other but not spark merging so that we don't end up carrying." The blue jet placed a comforting hand on Starscream's wing, "'Warp and I'll go get you your morning energon since you haven't had it yet. We'll make up excuses for you to stay in your berth until this is over, make sure Megatron doesn't catch on."

Starscream nodded his thanks as his trine mates left, a slight whine escaping his vocalizer at the thought of being stuck in his own quarters for an orn. Though he knew it was for his own good, it still felt like a punishment. He couldn't help it though, it'd kill him if one of the half wit constructions or even if any of the other imbecile Decepticons sparked him while he'd be unable to stop them. Or Megatron, if Megatron ever found out about this weakness, who knows what damage could occur. No. It was simply his best option to stay within the confinements of his quarters.

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><p>Half an orn later, Megatron knew something was wrong. If there was one thing that Megatron prided himself in it was his seemingly inability to be deceived himself. You can't deceive a Decepticon, they were masters of deception, and yet his Seekers seemed to be rather forgetful of that. The simple fact that Starscream hadn't attempted to put him offline lately was peculiar in itself, and ever stranger still, when the Air Commander was on monitor duty he kept to himself, and Megatron hadn't laid a fist on him in half an orn. Peculiar indeed.<p>

It wasn't until that morning that Megatron discovered why things were off.

He was seated in his throne, looking over his warriors on monitor duty and occasionally bringing his optics towards Starscream in particular. Quietly, if not slightly nervously, working away at the monitor. The Nemesis was quite, mechs working while Megatron twisted ideas against the Autobots around in his processor, knowing they'd need to raid another energy source soon as their current supply was slowly dwindling.

He brought his optics back to his SIC, frowning at the back of the Seeker. There was something off about him, had been for the past two Earth days. He couldn't quite put a servo on the difference, though it was obviously there. Wing span? Seemed off. Slender frame? Slightly different. Attitude and ego? Completely unlike. There were several differences that he _thought_ he could see, but couldn't quite believe them. Looking at Starscream, he couldn't figure it out, until he brought his optics to the Seeker's wings.

There, right wing, lower left. A patch of black that he _knew_ Starscream didn't have. He knew for a fact that Starscream's wings were white, a red streak the only other color on the sensitive appendages. Feeling his anger rising steadily at being deceived-and so poorly too-Megatron stood from his seat on the throne, walking towards who he was completely sure was not Starscream and was in fact the annoying one of his Air Commander's trine, Skywarp.

Sensing Megatron's approach, Skywarp-creativly painted Starscream's colors by Thundercracker-turned to face the silver tyrant, certain that Megatron would never guess that he was not actually the SIC. "Anything wrong, Megatron?" Skywarp asked, altering his vocalizer to try and mimic Starscream's.

Megatron's expression turned deadly, and Skywarp suddenly became very nervous. Letting one hand slide across Skywarp's lower right wing, ignoring the slight shiver it caused the Seeker, he pulled it back to reveal the white paint that smudged across his servo. "You missed a spot." Megatron snarled, using the same servo to grip Skywarp by the neck, yanking him up to optic level as he growled out; "Where is Starscream?"

Shaking slightly Skywarp wrapped his servos around Megatron's grip, knowing it wasn't any use to try and pull away as Megatron's grip simply got tighter. Vocalizer slightly stuttering as the grip over it tightened, Skywarp answered in his regular tone, knowing the gig was up. "His-his quarters." He managed out, dropping to his knees as Megatron dropped him without another word. Skywarp rubbed at his throat, vocalizer stuttering back to normal. "Megatron, wait!" He called out, looking towards the door of the Command Centre to stop the Decepticon leader from walking in on Starscream mid heat, only it was too late.

"Slag," Skywarp hissed out, opening his bond to Thundercracker. **We may have a slight problem...**

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><p>Megatron was furious. Maybe furious didn't exactly cover what he was feeling, he was completely maddened by the fact that Starscream not only was skipping out on his duties but was also trying to do so behind Megatron's back, and getting his trine mates to cover for him. What kind of SIC did he have? To abuse what little power he had in such a way, it made Megatron's tanks churn in cold fury.<p>

Marching towards the Seeker's locked quarters, he angrily punched in the override codes, processor engulf with different ways to destroy his Air Commander without actually deactivating him. However, as soon as he walked into the quarters, the door hissing shut behind him, all thoughts vanished. His processor completely shut down by the strange and new scent that hung heavy in tight quarters. The air held the distinct scent of Starscream, but also a processor numbing musky scent.

Since Starscream hadn't left his quarters in the past two Earth days, the closed off area was completely saturated in the smell of his heat. Megatron, completely void of anger, was now curious as he made his way into the sleeping portion of the Air Commander's quarters. He was surprised to see that the sweet smell came from Starscream himself, quietly in recharging on the berth, and not one of the Seeker's ridiculous concoctions he tended to make in his make-shift lab when he was bored.

Unable to control himself, the scent of Starscream wiping out his processor and forcing him to run on simple instinct, Megatron crept onto the bed, leaning over the recharging Seeker as he dipped his olfactory sensors into the cables of Starscream's neck, the location the musk seemed to seep from. Bringing more of the intoxicating scent into his sensors, he was jolted by slim claws gripping lightly at his armor. Starscream bit back a groan at the feeling of another form this close to his already heated frame, tilting his helm to allow, what he was sure was a mech, more access to his neck.

Taking the open invitation, Megatron brought his teeth to Starscream's sensitive neck cables, now bared to him. The Seeker shivered as Megatron nipped at his neck, one of Megatron's servos splaying across the surface of an over sensified wing. Megatron ceased his nipping to drag his glossa across Starscream's bared neck, over his cheek and across his mouthplates. Instinctually understanding the message behind the action, Starscream parted his lips and allowed the larger mech access to his mouth.

All rational thought was gone from both mechs, neither really knowing what they were doing, simply driven by instinct. Starscream was simply under the influence of the heat, while Megatron had fallen victim to the heat's musk, losing himself in Starscream's seductive abilities. Consequences be damned, the only thing they knew was that they needed to mate.

Starscream shivered as Megatron's tapped a finger against his interface panel, knowing exactly what the mech meant by that, he let the panel click open and slide out of Megatron's way. Dragging experienced fingers over the still housed spike, Megatron instead dipped his fingers into Starscream's already dripping valve. Starscream groaned in relief as his aching valve was finally given some attention, wiggling his hips in order to encourage the mech above him.

Smirking at the Seeker's eagerness, Megatron growled possessively, instinct telling him that the slim frame below him was his. Bringing his mouthplates back to Starscream's, Megatron removed his fingers from the Seeker's valve, instead bringing his fingers to undo his own interface panel, unsheathing his spike from it's housing. Starscream shivered beneath him, hearing the click of Megatron's panel and knowing what was coming next.

Distracting the winged being before him by completely claiming his mouth with his glossa, Megatron plunged his spike completely into the warm heat of the Seeker. Starscream responsively wrapped his legs around Megatron's waist, thrusters digging into his armor. Snarling at the quick rush of pain at being entered so violently, Starscream dug his fangs into Megatron's lips, causing energon to drip into his mouth. When Megatron started moving inside his Seeker though, Starscream's hisses of pain quickly transformed to moans of pleasure, moving his own hips in time with the silver gun-former.

"Megatron," Starscream whined, opening his chest plates so that Megatron could see the flier's blue spark. Almost captivated by the pulsing spark, Megatron released his own chest plates, wisps of energy leaving their sparks to meet, almost dragging the two together.

When their sparks did meet, Starscream screamed out in ecstasy, wings hiked up as his whole frame seemed to alight with energy, bringing the two mech's together. He could feel himself pass into Megatron, and Megatron pass into himself. The intimacy of what they were sharing went completely over their processors as they simply went by what their body told them to do instead of their processors. Starscream gripped Megatron's shoulders tightly above him, overload completely over taking him. As Starscream's inner walls tightened around his spike and Starscream's energy went up tenfold, Megatron couldn't help but reach his own overload, shooting his transfluids into his Seeker.

After their overloads settled, Starscream's chest plates were the first to closer as the Seeker once against dropped into recharge, his body relaxing for the first time in half an orn, satisfied an no longer bothering him. Megatron retracted his spike, closing both his and Starscream's interface panels as his chest plates closed as well. The haze of just having overload prevented him from having a completely clear processor, yet he was still able to comprehend the reason why Starscream had been late for monitor duty.

Sighing at the realization that he just interfaced with his egotistical Air Commander, Megatron stood from the berth, rubbing a servo across his faceplates. Starscream was going to be so furious.


	2. Chapter 2

**Title:** Keep It Together

**Author: **DeviousGypsy

**Summary:** Unbeknown to anyone else, Starscream is a young Seeker. So when he hits his first heat cycle, he has no idea how to handle it. His trine tries to help but the plan falls apart and brings Megatron and Starscream together in a strange way...only to have Starscream ripped from Megatron's servos.

**Warnings:** Slash, mech-preg, the like :P

**Pairings:** Megatron/Starscream, Thundercracker/Skywarp

**Chapter:** II

**Notes:** Thank you guys so much for all the reviews! I hope this chapter is to your liking as well, as the feedback helped me to throw this out quicker than I probably would have. Slightly shorter than I'd have liked but the next chapter will get more into where the plot is. Enjoy!

Orn = Roughly 4.7 Earth days, Vorn = 83 Earth years, Breem = 1 Earth minute

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><p>Surprisingly, when Starscream did enter the Command Centre, he didn't seem furious at all. In fact, if Megatron had to five the Seeker's attitude a description, he'd have to say that Starscream was nothing if not a little bewildered. Megatron decided it would probably prove to be in his best interest if he didn't question the Seeker's attitude at all, passing it off as Starscream being surprised at waking up seemingly out of his heat cycle. Unfortunately that was not Starscream's thoughts, at least not completely.<p>

Knowing there was only one reason for him to come out of heat this early, Starscream was a little more than bewildered. Terrified seemed a little more appropriate word. Terrified of the possibility of Megatron finding out that Starscream was potentially carrying his heir. He couldn't even begin to imagine Megatron's reaction. Immediate deactivation of the new spark. A beating that could surely deactivate Starscream himself. No outcome he could come up with sounded pleasant, and he wasn't willing to have any of it.

So, the only option Starscream could think of was to keep the sparklet a secret from the silver warlord. Seeker protocols that made them well known for carrying and raising sparklings before the way, prevented any thought of deactivating the sparkling himself before Megatron could even think to put the pieces together. He tried to completely ignore the linger question of what he was going to do with the sparkling _after_ it was out, knowing that he'd be unable to hide a sparkling successfully within the Nemesis without someone finding out.

On the other servo, Starscream couldn't bring himself to deny the fact that he was rather revealed at the fact that it was Megatron-out of any other Decepticon on base-that found him in the state that he had been in. Megatron was strong enough to lead the Decepticons, and his spark had obviously felt that Megatron's coding was potent enough to spark him. Had it been anyone else on the Nemesis-protocols be damned-he would have ripped the damn thing out of his chassis still pulsing.

Starscream seemed to be completely lost in thought, and though Megatron felt comfortable now that he wasn't working with a Starscream painted Skywarp, he couldn't help but admit that he was starting to miss the Seeker's voice. The cocky and boisterous Air Commander seemed to have taken a vacation and left nothing but the thoughtful scientist behind. As unsettling as it was, he was simply grateful that whatever had possessed Starscream to go into heat was gone and his SIC could return to his duties.

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><p>Starscream's shift seemed to pass by without him even knowing, Soundwave having to pull Starscream from whatever trance seemed to have captivated him so that Starscream could leave his shift and let the next 'Con on. Shaking his helm slightly as if to clear his processor, Starscream walked out of the Command Centre, noticing that neither Skywarp nor Thundercracker were there. Deciding to make a short stop by his trine mate's quarters before he retired to either his own quarters or the rec room-he was still debating-he turned himself in that direction.<p>

If there was by chance an infant spark taking refuge in his spark chamber, he could count on his trine mates to either confirm or deny and to keep their mouths shut about the whole ordeal. He attempted his normal strut down the corridors, walk usually filled with an air of command and superiority, yet it was more difficult with the fear weighting him down, thoughts seeming to drag his optics to the floor. He passed the rec room, looking in to see how many bots were occupying said room. There weren't too many, but for now more than he felt comfortable with.

Upon reaching his trine's quarters, Starscream didn't bother knocking or buzzing in, Starscream had the codes to their room and they had the codes to his. Starscream had walked in on them in more than a few awkward situations, and after the fourth or fifth time he stopped being surprised. Luckily though he seemed to have come at the choice time, Thundercracker seated at the desk looking over a few data pads scattered around him while Skywarp sat on the berth cleaning his null ray.

Both Seekers looked towards the door when they heard it opening, slightly surprised to find their Air Commander standing there. Skywarp was the first to movie, launching himself at the red and white mech. "Starscream! I was so worried about you!" Skywarp cried, slightly surprised that he wasn't immediately thrown off. "I'm so sorry," he added, "Megatron didn't beat the slag out of you too much right?" Looking his trine leader over Skywarp scoffed, "Hook must have done a good job, I don't see any fresh weld marks anywhere!"

Shrugging Skywarp off, Starscream moved closer to the berth, sitting on it while Skywarp followed and Thundercracker turning in his chair, watching Starscream with scrutinizing optics. Shaking his helm, Thundercracker moved his optics to Skywarp, "No, you idiot. Megatron didn't beat Starscream," he informed his rather unobservant bond mate.

Optics brightening in realization Skywarp's shock wore off to a coy smile. "Finally got fragged, Screamer?"

Starscream's crimson optics turned to glare at Skywarp, "Yeah," he hissed, "Fragged enough to knock me out of my heat cycle." Optics widening in realization, Skywarp's mouth slightly dropped open. "Got it now?"

Thundercracker sighed, standing from his seat to walk towards Starscream. "Alright, did you spark merge while interfacing?"

Heaving a cycle of air out of his vents Starscream threw his servo out. "I don't remember, I was completely out of it at that point." Shaking his helm, he off-lined his optics, "I'd assume so, it was all instinctual, I wasn't thinking at all." Pausing long enough to breath out a dry laugh. "I'm willing to guess he wasn't either."

Skywarp, draping himself over Starscream's back while running soothing fingers over his leader's delicate wings, informed him, "It's your scent, it stimulates the frame and dulls the CPU."

Thundercracker moved towards the desk again, opening one of the draws and pulling out a monitor used for checking the spark and determining if one had been sparked. Looking at Thundercracker with a rather confused expression, Starscream asked; "Why in the Pit do you have that just casually in your desk draw?"

Rubbing the white wings in a soft circular motion, as Skywarp knew the motion made Thundercracker relax even in the most stressful of times, Skywarp leaned closer to Starscream, his chassis flush against Starscream's wings so that he could see what Thundercracker was doing. "Oh, I warped in the med bay and stole it from Hook when I was worried TC'd gotten me sparked. We've kept it around just in case."

"Open up," Thundercracker told Starscream, bending to one knee in order to be optic level with Starscream's spark. Doing as Thundercracker asked, he bared his spark, casting Thundercracker in a blue glow. Thundercracker pressed the monitor close to the pulsing spark, flicking it on as it diagnosed the status of Starscream's spark. About a breem later the device beeped quietly and began humming, Thundercracker pulled it away, Starscream closing his chassis as the blue mech stepped away.

"Well, what does it say?" Starscream asked, spark pulsing slightly faster in anticipation.

"Hold on, the results are being gathered," Thundercracker explained, "It's not like the Decepticons ever had to worry about someone getting sparked, so they don't exactly have the greatest technology to locate a new spark." Again the device beeped, the humming stopping and enveloping the room in silence, save for Skywarp's fingers caressing Starscream's wings. The blunt fact that Starscream had yet to push Skywarp off proving how completely absorbed in the situation in front of him he was. "Well, it's a really light mark but it's there."

"So," Starscream started, optics brightening, "I'm sparked?"

Handing the device over to Starscream, Thundercracker pointed out the occasional blip in the readings. "That's when the new spark crosses in front of the device," Thundercracker told him, "So yes, you're sparked."

Dropping his optics to the floor, his head fell in exasperation. "Slag," he muttered, wings drooping as Skywarp stopped his kneading.

"Come on, 'Screamer!" Skywarp said, trying to bring Starscream out of whatever state of depression the SIC had fallen into. "A sparkling is something to celebrate, not to be sad about."

Starscream flicked his wings, causing Skywarp to slid off of him. "Not when the sparkling's Megatron's and produced by an interface that wasn't even supposed to happen." Starscream sighed, "You two cannot tell Megatron about this."

Skywarp let out a small whine, "Why not? He's the creator, he should be told about his own sparkling don't you think."

This time it was Thundercracker who sighed, "And how are you going to hide a sparkling on the Nemesis?"

"I'm not telling Megatron because that afthead would have us both offlined!" He informed them, throwing his servos in the air helplessly. "He doesn't like anything that's weak," the seeker muttered, optics dimming. "He'd destroy it before even thinking about it."

Seeing his trine leader fall deeper into the hole of depression, Skywarp frowned. "Hey, 'Screamer," he murmured, capturing the multi colored Seeker's attention. "TC and I'll help ya hide the sparkling."

Blinking Thundercracker asked, "We will?" at the same time Starscream asked, "You will?"

Smiling again, Skywarp laughed. "Of course we will! I'll just act like I'm carrying, besides I'm amazing at avoiding Hook, he won't even have to look at me. Then when you spark the little thing, TC and I'll pretend it's ours around people, but you can have your carrier time with it in your quarters and our quarters. Easy stuff." The two other Seekers sat there, staring stupidly at Skywarp, making the teleporting mech feel rather uncomfortable. "What?"

Thundercracker smiled slightly while turning to face Starscream, "Holy slag, did Skywarp just come up with a plan that actually made sense?"

Skywarp pouted, "That's not fair."

About to add in something, Starscream was interrupted by a ping, a com sent by Megatron flashing it's importance. Connecting with the com, Starscream responded; "Yes, Lord Megatron?"

"Starscream," Megatron greeted, if one could call it that. "Get you and your trine to the Command Centre, we're discussing battle plans."

"Yes, Lord Megatron." Starscream ended the com, beating Megatron to it and maintaining his cocky attitude around the silver warlord so as to not seem suspicious. "Megatron wants us in the Command Centre to discuss battle plans that I'm sure will fail." Frowning at the idea of Starscream in battle while carrying, he reluctantly stood, following Starscream out of the quarters he shared with Thundercracker.


	3. Chapter 3

**Title:** Keep It Together

**Author: **DeviousGypsy

**Summary:** Unbeknown to anyone else, Starscream is a young Seeker. So when he hits his first heat cycle, he has no idea how to handle it. His trine tries to help but the plan falls apart and brings Megatron and Starscream together in a strange way...only to have Starscream ripped from Megatron's servos.

**Warnings:** Slash, mech-preg, the like :P

**Pairings:** Megatron/Starscream, Thundercracker/Skywarp

**Chapter:** III

**Notes:** All these reviews mean so much to me! Thank you guys so much! I hope you enjoy this chapter as well!

Orn = Roughly 4.7 Earth days, Vorn = 83 Earth years, Breem = 1 Earth minute, Stellercycle = 1 Earth month

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><p>At the end of the meeting, Starscream was biting his lip to keep himself quiet, noticing more than a few of the faults in Megatron's plan. Megatron seemed proud though, considering he had seemingly thrown the plan together overnight. Admittedly, the plan wasn't as terrible as it could have been, though if Megatron could swallow his ego long enough to get some feedback from more tactical mechs, the plan was sure to bring them months worth of energon.<p>

Watching as the other mechs left the Command Centre in order to get some recharge, Starscream stayed back, waving his trine mates off as they looked towards Starscream worriedly. Reluctantly, pulling Skywarp along with him, Thundercracker left the Command Centre, informing Starscream to com him when he was finished. Starscream nodded in acknowledgment before turning his attention to Megatron, of which was giving Soundwave a final order before the telepath went to recharge.

When Megatron turned to find Starscream standing there, optics locked on him, he wasn't able to completely bite back the nagging feeling that he was about to be yelled at for interfacing with Starscream while said mech was helpless to it. Optics dimming slightly, Megatron made his way towards his treacherous second, Starscream's optics never unlocking from his frame. "You need something, Starscream?" Megatron growled out, leaning against the back of his throne in front of the Seeker. "If it's about how against my plan you are, then you may turn around and head to your quarters now while you are still able to walk on your own."

Starscream had to hold himself back from heaving air from his vents in a sigh, "Actually, _Mighty _Megatron," Starscream sneered, knowing it would only irritate Megatron some more but unable to contain himself. Megatron's optics dimmed even darker in irritation, Starscream ignored him though, waving his servo above the battle plans on the data pads in front of him. "I think this plan may actually be profitable," Starscream added, however, before Megatron's ego could get too large, he continued, "However, there are more tactical issues that you seemed to have let slip from your possessor."

Megatron's fist clenched, "I told you, Starscream. Leave on your own while you still can."

Sneering at his leader, Starscream simply continued, "If you right up attack the source, the humans have time to alert the Autobots," he informed the silver tyrant. "But if you attack the base of operations and take the humans out first, it will take the Autobots longer to find out about our attack and give us more time to collect the energon."

Yanking his arm back, Megatron stared at the data pad before him, looking at the map of the building they would be attacking. A blue finger darted in front of his optics, pointing out the area of the map that was the human's base of operations. "This is where we should attack," Starscream's voice came from across from him. Megatron yanked the data pad out of Starscream's reach, "I understand that!" Starscream was silent after that, watching as Megatron's optics looked over every part of the map and his previous plans. "Leave to your quarters, Starscream. We attack at dawn."

The multicolored jet bit back a victorious smirk, knowing that that would get him a solid punch in the faceplates from the ex-gladiator. Starscream turned on his thrusters, leaving the room without uttering another word. He knew that if he boasted that he was right, Megatron would no go through with his idea, and Starscream's idea would get them more energon, something Starscream would need during and after his carrying cycle.

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><p>There it was, the raid site, directly in front of them, right in clear view. Stopping a few miles away, Megatron turned to face the rest of his army, searching for one mech in particular. Crimson optics locking, Megatron pointed towards the raid site. "Starscream, attack the humans."<p>

Smirking, Starscream flew higher, motioning towards his two trine mates. "Thundercracker, Skywarp, on my lead!" The multicolored Seeker dove forwards, transforming into his alt mode during the dive in order to prolong the human's recognition of a Deception. Starscream scoffed at the thought, humans were completely unobservant, there were multiple differences between himself and a human built jet, to mistake him for one was nothing if slightly offensive.

The three jets flew overhead of the building, circling back around in order to get close enough to make absolutely sure that their fire would not miss their targets. Coming down in closer, Starscream transformed and ripped a hole through the human's flimsy tin roof, watching as some of the few humans that were left standing hurried to the communications board, shouts of "Call the Autobots!" and "Alert Optimus Prime!" ringing through the heated air.

His smirk only growing as what he thought would happen became a reality in front of his optics, Starscream leveled his null ray at the communications board. "I don't think so," Starscream's snide remark was followed by the sound of his null ray going off, the human's technology exploding in front of them and sending them crashing into the opposite wall, some still breathing, others unconscious and severely damaged.

"Communications destroyed, Lord Megatron," Starscream spoke into his com, "Autobots remain unaware of the attack."

"Finally," Megatron's deep voice growled out, "Some good comes of you." Starscream took that as the praise it was meant to be, coming from Megatron it was the best he would get. "Continue on with the plan."

Starscream lowered himself to the ground, Skywarp and Thundercracker landing beside him. Skywarp stood closer to Starscream than the trine leader may have liked, but he simply brushed the thought off as he started towards the energon source. The three seekers were the first there, Megatron and the rest of the army landing only a breem or too later. As soon as he landed, Soundwave began producing the cubes needed to contain the energon. As soon as the cubes emerged the other Decepticons grabbed them, hurrying to fill as many as they could before the Autobots got wind of their attack.

Knowing this would be an advantage to him as well, Starscream went against his usual ways and did his best to complete his task without failure. If they could get enough energon to last them at the very least three stellercycles, then he could birth the sparklet in his chassis and not have to worry about getting damaged or hurting the new spark. Megatron seemed pleased that Starscream was actually doing something right for once in his miserable existence. Perhaps he should have fragged the Seeker a lot sooner had he known this would have been the result.

It wasn't long before they spotted another energy signature in the sky, the Decepticons looking up to find Skyfire, no doubt carrying the other Autobots within his cargo hold. Glaring, Megatron turned to Astrotrain, "Astrotrain, transform, the rest of you; take the energon and secure them within Astrotrain's cargo bay!"

Biting back a frown, Starscream hurried with the rest of the mechs in order to protect the energon from stray fire. There wasn't as much as Starscream had hoped, in fact there was perhaps only enough for two stellercycles, more than Megatron had planned, but less that Starscream had hopped. As soon as all the cubes were loaded on, Megatron sent Astrotrain back to the base while the rest of them took care of the Autobots.

Optimus Prime stood proud in front of his army, "Autobots, battle formations!" Standing with their guns pointed at the Decepticons, of which mimicked their motions, each Deception focusing a gun on a different Autobot.

"Starscream," Megatron called out, firing the first shot at Optimus Prime. "Aerial attack, now!"

Taking to the sky, his trine mates hot on his thrusters, Starscream took an aerial view of their surroundings. Pointing to a rather large rock formation, Starscream alerted his trine mates to attack the rocks instead of the Autobots.

"Have you glitched your processor, Starscream?" Skywarp asked, his voice betraying his shock.

Rubbing at the bridge of his olfactory sensors, Starscream hissed air out of his vents. "No, Skywarp, if we attack the rocks they'll fall on the Autobrats and allow us to get away."

"Oh," Skywarp frowned at himself, "Good idea." Following Starscream's lead, Skywarp and Thundercracker positioned their null rays at the rocks below, the Autobots and other Decepticons completely obviously at their antics.

Opening a com to Megatron, Starscream stopped his fire once he saw the first rock roll down towards the ground. "Megatron," Starscream alerted, "Push the Autobots back and clear away."

"Do not forget who the leader is, Starscream," Megatron growled back, but at first glance towards the sky he noticed Starscream's plan. Frowning at the idea that yet again Starscream's plan had fallen through, Megatron growled out the the rest of his army; "Decepticons, fall back!" Obeying Megatron's command, the rest of the Decepticons threw the Autobots off, taking to the skies while the rocks tumbled down on top of the Autobots. Smirking at their victory, Megatron started back towards the Nemesis, the rest of the Decepticons following closely behind.

When Starscream came up to take his position at Megatron's flank, the silver mech turned to glare at the Seeker. "Don't make a habit of this, Starscream," Megatron warned, "A few good ideas do not make up for the countless mistakes you've made." Sighing, Starscream simply dimmed his optics, knowing he wasn't going to get any closer to a 'thank you' than that.

Focusing ahead, Starscream couldn't help the feeling of dread at the thought that they hadn't gotten enough energon. That at one point, when he was much farther along in his carrying cycle, they'd have to attack again. Being a self-centered mech by nature, Starscream couldn't help but double that worry now that he was carrying.

Biting back the instinct to rub at his chassis, Starscream instead focused on following Megatron back to the base. Starscream's processor seemed content at delving up the idea of carrying _Megatron's_ heir within his spark chamber. It would be a part of Megatron, perhaps the only part of Megatron, that wouldn't hate Starscream, that wouldn't criticize and openly mock him in front of the others. It would be somebot who needed him, who relied on him. Someone who may actually love him.

Love. What a strange word to even _think_ of during this war, let alone as a Decepticon. The Autobots openly loved each other, most of them bonded, and caring deeply for one another. Yet as Decepticons they were not permitted to love one another. Love was a weakness, something that-once found out-could be ripped away from you and left you broken, perhaps a fate worse than death.

No one could find out.


	4. Chapter 4

**Title:** Keep It Together

**Author: **DeviousGypsy

**Summary:** Unbeknown to anyone else, Starscream is a young Seeker. So when he hits his first heat cycle, he has no idea how to handle it. His trine tries to help but the plan falls apart and brings Megatron and Starscream together in a strange way...only to have Starscream ripped from Megatron's servos.

**Warnings:** Slash, mech-preg, the like :P

**Pairings:** Megatron/Starscream, Thundercracker/Skywarp

**Chapter:** IV

**Notes:** Urg, sorry this has taken so long but I got sick and didn't really feel like getting out of bed to do anything. Unfortunately whatever illness took over me hasn't really left because now it's allergy season for me so my head is one giant pounding mess. So if this chapter sounds a little weird, I put all blame to the painkillers. That and when I'm not focused I tend to revert to my native tongue, German, so yeah, all blame to painkillers! Sorry ahead of time by the way, as you can guess by this apology it is a cliff hanger, however I tried to make this chapter a little longer and succeeded! Hope you enjoy!

Orn = Roughly 4.7 Earth days, Vorn = 83 Earth years, Breem = 1 Earth minute, Stellercycle = 1 Earth month

* * *

><p>Cursing himself, Starscream struggled against falling into recharge right there in the rec room. He must have been away from his scientific works too long, his calculations had been off and he was already starting to feel the effects of their depleting energon rations. Skywarp and Thundercracker had been worried enough to give portions of their own rations to him, Seeker protocols putting the sparkling's needs above their own. Starscream had tried to deny them to the best of his abilities however, and though he wouldn't admit it out loud, it was probably the only thing that had let him last even this long.<p>

Resting his helm against his hand, his optics dim as he stared at a data pad he held lazily between his servos. He minutely registered that someone else had entered the rec room, quickly catching the click of thrusters that gave away the fact that it was one of his trine mates. A black servo on his shoulder vent revealed it to be Thundercracker.

Sure enough Thundercracker leaned down into Starscream's line of sight, faceplates dropping at how exhausted his trine leader looked. Running a comforting hand along the line of Starscream's wing, Thundercracker offered a small smile. "Megatron spoke to Soundwave about attacking the Autobots this morning while I was on monitor duty. Should only take Megatron the rest of the day to come up with a plan, perhaps a meeting later in the night, an attack some time tomorrow."

Sub-spacing the data pad, Starscream stood with a slight frown that would have been missed had Thundercracker not known Starscream so well. However, Thundercracker did catch it, and allowed himself a small frown as well. Starscream's chassis was not noticeably descended if one was not looking to catch it, only being in his second stellercycle, however the extra weight took it's toll, the sparkling much heavier than it outwardly showed.

Turning to give a slight nod to Thundercracker, Starscream replied; "I'll be in my quarters, I'll respond to the com when I hear it." Thundercracker nodded in response and watched as Starscream left the med bay, his usual quick motions slowed a fraction by his lack of energy and added weight. Thundercracker let out a sigh, leaning against the chair that Starscream had just evacuated, optics turning to the door as Skywarp made his way through.

The purple Seeker frowned, "Starscream left?"

Nodding, Thundercracker allowed himself to slide down into the seat, "He needs rest, you know that."

Taking the advantage, Skywarp slid himself down onto Thundercracker's lap, nuzzling his face into his mate's neck. "Mhmm," he smiled, "I'm still excited to have little seekers running around," sighing, the smile slightly faded, "It'll remind me of home."

"Vos is long gone, Sky," Thundercracker muttered against his mate's helm, "Besides, I know Seekers are designed to have more than one sparkling, but because of the lack of energon, I'm sure Star's only having one."

Frowning, Skywarp leaned forward, "TC, what about when the sparkling gets older? He won't have a trine, he'll be the only Seekerling around."

Thundercracker couldn't help but frown at that as well, "I don't know, Sky, we'll figure it out."

Lips curling into an unintentional grin, Skywarp muttered, "We could have sparklings, TC, so that Screamer's Seekerling wouldn't be alone. I mean with all the 'acting like I'm sparked', I can't help but get attached to the idea, you know?"

As much as he too liked the idea, Thundercracker couldn't help but shake his head, "That'll only add fuel to the fire. We don't have hardly enough energon for Star's sparkling, it would be irresponsible of us to procreate as well." Allowing himself a small pout, Skywarp stayed quite after that, enjoying the opportunity of being alone and in the company of each other without having to worry about duties.

* * *

><p>It was dark by the time Megatron gave out the com to meet in the Command Centre, voice rather gruff and proving that he had not rested until the plan was perfect in Megatron's mind. Starscream shifted off his berth, holding back a hiss as he felt different things in his chassis shift, adjusting to his change in position. Sighing and resting a hand of the hardly noticeable swell, he couldn't help but send waves of reassurance and comfort to the being in there.<p>

Feeling the sparkling settle, Starscream stood, exiting his quarters and making his way down to the Command Center. He walked beside Scrapper, the other mech frowning and looking disheveled as if he had been deep in the middle of recharge. Deciding he was too tired to think of any witty comments about either Scrapper's appearance or whatever terrible idea Megatron had now, Starscream kept to himself, knowing that he needed this energon terribly.

Upon entering the Command Centre, Starscream was slightly surprised to see that he and Scrapper were one of the first few there, having been beaten by Soundwave, Hook, and Astrotrain. It only took about five breems for the rest of the crew to get there though, knowing that if they were not there within a handful of breems Megatron would have their aft.

Seeing that his entire army seemed to be present, Megatron began laying the plan out in from of them. Tapping at the data pad in his hand with a stylus, Megatron projected a 3-dimensional hologram of a oil factory. "Soundwave has brought to my attention that there are high energy readings coming from this factory, Ravage discovered that these humans have recently tapped into a new oil well and have more than enough to create energon," a malevolent grin crossed his faceplates when he tapped the data pad again, this time figures appeared before them, proving that-either Megatron or Soundwave-had really gone all out on this one. "Enough energon to last at least fifteen stellercycles."

Starscream's head snapped up at that, _fifteen stellercycles_? That was enough to provide for him and the sparkling. Immediately Starscream was listening, all traces of recharge gone from his mind as he completely focused on Megatron and the plan before him. So far, Starscream could point out no faults, though he was sure Megatron had relied on Soundwave to help him, probably just to spite Starscream. However, he couldn't find it in him to get angry, the promise of fifteen stellercycles of energon was just too much to get angry over.

When Megatron seemed to be finished, he dismissed everyone, frowning when he noticed that Starscream had not yet said a word, and searching the crowd of Decepticons he found Starscream leaving with the rest of them. A frown appeared on his faceplates as he called out to Starscream, telling him to come forward. He could practically see the air escaping Starscream's vents in a sigh as Starscream maneuvered his way back to the center of the Command Centre. When Starscream finally stood before him, Megatron managed to hide his disapproval of Starscream's lack of input as it had surprisingly helped last time, and instead placed a cocky grin upon his faceplates. "No input, Starscream?"

Shrugging his shoulders, Starscream responded; "Seeing as you already requested Soundwave's input, I don't see as to what changes could be made."

Megatron bit back the growl that threatened to escape, instead he never let the smirk leave his face. "Soundwave is very precise in his calculations."

Not in the mood to fight or even argue Starscream remained blank, "Exactly, so I see no fault. Now, may I proceed to my quarters and recharge before your _glorious_ victory?"

This time the smirk faded into his usual frown, "Very well, and inform Skywarp that he is to remain at base, Hook has threatened to remove his wings if he so much as thinks about fighting so far along in his carrying."

Starscream hid the inner frown, knowing that Skywarp was perfectly able to fight and that it was Starscream who was putting his-_their-_sparkling in danger. "Yes, Lord Megatron."

* * *

><p>The morning before the attack, Skywarp-slightly upset that he could not fight-gave Starscream his entire ration, telling his trine leader that he wouldn't need it since he wouldn't be doing anything but relaxing in his own berth. Starscream took it with a thanks, greatly appreciating it as his processors kept buzzing a feeling that he should not be going on today's mission. However, he drowned the feeling away with his rations, knowing that if he skipped out Megatron would have his spark for either planning some sort of sabotage or being weak. Not wanting to bring anymore attention to himself, he steeled himself to go, promising Thundercracker that he would stay away from any fighting.<p>

Seeing that he was one Seeker less and his trine would be hindered, Megatron instead based the attack on Devistator. Going for strength rather than the Seeker's speed, leaving Soundwave and his creations to gather the energon. Megatron wasn't pleased that one of his Seekers had sparked themselves, though with Skywarp he was slightly surprised it hadn't occurred sooner. He should have terminated the parasite, however it would have devastated the two creators, and with two out of three Seekers crushed, his trine would have been no used to him. Besides, if the sparkling was raised with the Decepticons, then he was sure that it would not be treacherous to their cause-he'd simply have to keep the blasted thing away from Starscream.

Landing at the oil site, Megatron punched through the wall, watching as the week metal fell apart around his fist. Grabbing their communications, Megatron squished the sparking machine in his fist, ceasing all contact the factory had. "Soundwave, start the energon collection!" Starscream and Thundercracker patrolled the air, keeping an optic out for any Autobots that happened across them. According to Megatron, an Autobot scout wouldn't appear in two human hours, giving them plenty of time to gather the energon they needed.

Within an hour and a half, they had enough energon for 9 stellercycles, and Astrotrain was almost full of the purple cubes. A glance to the west though showed that there was not only an in coming Autobot scout, but seemingly the entire Autobot faction. Thundercracker landed heavily, hurrying to alert Megatron. "Lord Megatron!" he called out, his thrusters slamming into the ground, "Several Autobot enemies located in the west, a human must have tipped them off."

Slamming his fist into whatever was left of the wall he originally destroyed, Megatron barked out orders. "Constructicons; form into Devistator! Soundwave; pick up the pace on the energon collection! The rest of you; on the defensive!"

Thundercracker ignited his thrusters, shooting into the sky while transforming back into his alt-mode, meeting his trine leader in the air. "Starscream, remember what you said, stay in the back, fire only if you have a clear shot, stay hidden!"

"I understand, Thundercracker! I have the same protocols as you!" Starscream shouted back, irritated at being treated like a sparkling himself.

Bursting from the clearing, Optimus Prime transforming from alt-mode to stand in front of Megatron, blue optics shining brightly as he gazed upon Megatron's carnage. "Hand over the energon, Megatron," Optimus ordered, voice deep and yet slightly muffled by his battle mask.

Megatron simply scoffed, "We need our energon too, Prime, you take our sustenance away and yet you call us the 'bad guys'."

Prime's optics dimmed in disapproval, "There are other ways to get energon, ways they do not include the spilling of human blood."

Laughing, Megatron started his fusion cannon, "Ah but Prime, it's so much easier." Blasting at his foe, Optimus just barely rolled out of the way. The first shot having been fired, the battle began, Autobots ducking behind objects, firing when the opportunity arose while Devistator protected Soundwave, flinging any Autobot that got too close back.

Knowing that the Seekers had to have been there somewhere, Sunstreaker and Sideswipe went on the look out for them, making it their mission in this battle, to find and bring down the Seekers. Sideswipe quickly pointed out Thundercracker, the blue Seeker firing down at the Autobots hidden in the trees. Calculation the Seeker's direction, speed, and current location, Sunstreaker helped launch his brother towards the Seeker, Sideswipe making a desperate grasp for Thundercracker's wings. Grabbing a hold of one, he was able to pull himself onto the top of the jet, knocking off Thundercracker's calibrations.

Just as predicted, seeing his trine mate in trouble, Starscream banked the corner coming to aim his null rays at Sideswipe while Sunstreaker aimed at his wing. Firing a single shot, the yellow twin managed to hit the seem of Starscream's wing, where the wing met his back, knocking the Seeker off balance and into a spiral towards the ground. Thundercracker, ignoring the annoying twin still riding his back, hurried to catch up to the spinning speed Starscream had fallen into. Tapping Starscream's wing with his own, Thundercracker managed to stop the spinning and Starscream's speed dropped. Knowing that a fall like that could still damage the sparkling, Thundercracker dove under Starscream, the air he split also slowing Starscream as he rested most of the other jets weight on top of him, practically squishing the red twin and causing him to fall.

Once Starscream hit the ground, Thundercracker did a quick check to make sure he was still functioning and the sparkling was in no danger. The quick scan told him both were currently fine, though Starscream had fallen offline during his spiral, knowing that the Seeker was fine and Autobots were too kind to shoot at an offline mech, Thundercracker took to the air again, making a beeline for the twins, anger raising steadily.

Not long after Thundercracker left, Starscream's systems began to come on one by one, his spark calming after realizing that his sparkling didn't seem to be in any distress. Standing on shaky peds, Starscream reached a hand to where he was hit, wincing as he pulled back energon coated fingers. He rubbed his fingers together, the consistency was slightly thin for a Seeker, since they were jets, they needed to consume more energon in order for it to become the richer jet fuel. Because he was carrying it was typical for his energon to be thinner, though it was dangerous if it wasn't welded soon, for the leaking wouldn't stop as quickly.

Making his way to the trees, Starscream took a view point, easily seeing the entire battlefield while staying almost completely hidden. He was wounded already, leaking energon, and didn't want to press his luck with the sparkling in his chassis. Movement behind him caught his attention though, and his turned quickly, crimson optics immediately spotting the Autobot called Hound.

Hound looked furious, walking in on the scene, he had observed the seeker for a second before realizing that from this view point, Starscream would have a clear shot at the Prime. "Oh no you don't, you metallic pigeon!" Leaping into the air, Hound went to jump on Starscream, intent being to knock the Seeker away from their Prime. The two rolled around a few times before Starscream managed to push himself a few feet away from the smaller Autobot, vents heaving from exhaustion. However, his spark skipped a beat when he watched as the Autobot pulled his gun out, aiming simply at Starscream's legs, trying to keep him from moving so they could take him captive or at least prevent him from doing any more damage.

Starscream immediately held a servo up to stop him from making the foolish mistake at firing a weapon at him while they were both covered in jet fuel, which was very explosive. Thinking that Starscream's raised servo was another attack, Hound immediately fired his weapon, missing Starscream but hitting the ground between them and igniting the fuel there, sending both mechs flying, the fuel on the both of them as well. Starscream landed on his side, crushing his wing beneath him, feeling the cracks of his thrusters as most of the fuel had fallen around them and they had taken the brunt of the explosion. His vision was going, optics fizzing out as his systems forced him into emergency stasis. Before he became over come by the stasis lock though, he could hear the static filled com of Megatron calling a retreat.


	5. Chapter 5

**Title:** Keep It Together

**Author: **DeviousGypsy

**Summary:** Unbeknown to anyone else, Starscream is a young Seeker. So when he hits his first heat cycle, he has no idea how to handle it. His trine tries to help but the plan falls apart and brings Megatron and Starscream together in a strange way...only to have Starscream ripped from Megatron's servos.

**Warnings:** Slash, mech-preg, the like :P

**Pairings:** Megatron/Starscream, Thundercracker/Skywarp

**Chapter:** V

**Notes:** Yeahhhh, kind of another cliff hanger. Sorry again. I'm going to try and get these out faster, but it's kind of hard since I don't have internet at my house, I usually post when my friend goes tanning, she leaves me in the car and the place she tans has free wi-fi so that's how I post. Hope you enjoy!

Orn = Roughly 4.7 Earth days, Vorn = 83 Earth years, Breem = 1 Earth minute, Stellercycle = 1 Earth month, Megacycle = 1 Earth hour

* * *

><p>Thundercracker paused in his attack on Sideswipe, Sunstreaker had been thrown Primus knew where, and with one twin out of the way, Thundercracker was able to focus his attack on the red one. The reason for his pause was the com that was sent out to all Decepticons, Soundwave had gathered enough Energon for thirteen stellercycles and Megatron was calling a retreat. Turning to jet mode Thundercracker returned to the spot where he had left Starscream, only to find Starscream gone. Thinking that Starscream had onlined and responded to Megatron's retreat, Thundercracker headed back towards the Decepticon leader's position.<p>

Many Decepticons had already taken to the sky, a few ducked into Astrotrain's cargo bay. Not seeing Starscream in the air, Thundercracker presumed that his energy level had been too low to maintain flight and instead Starscream had gone inside Astrotrain. Thundercracker flew up beside Astrotrain, listening as the Autobot's stopped firing once they got out of range.

The flight back to the Nemesis was quiet, no doubt Megatron would celebrate once they returned, high grade that Thundercracker would have to sneak under the table to Skywarp since carriers were not supposed to drink high grade. However, he couldn't fight the feeling on unease that had settled deep within his spark. He pushed it aside, passing it off as worry for Skywarp being caught with high grade.

Upon reaching the Nemesis, Megatron ordered that everyone return to their quarters to recharge before having a meeting in the rec room. Now by 'meeting' Thundercracker knew it involved Megatron boasting about his victory while he and everyone else around him got completely overcharged. Skywarp was waiting for him when they landed, launching himself into his mate's arms.

"TC!" He cried out, "How did it go?"

Pulling back slightly, TC smiled at him, "Not as good as we may have hoped, but enough for about thirteen stellercycles."

Looking around Thundercracker, Skywarp's faceplates turned down into a slight frown. "Where's Screamer?"

Turning his helm to look back at where Soundwave was already unloading Astrotrain's cargo bay, Thundercracker simply shrugged, "Probably gone to recharge already, or to get his wing repaired by Hook."

Mouth agape, Skywarp made a frantic clicking noise, unintentionally speaking their native Seeker Vosian speech. "Starscream was hurt?"

Thundercracker simply gave a small chirp in response, "A small hit to his wing from the twins, he'll be fine with a little recharge and some energon." Skywarp seemed to be calmed by this, and nestled closer to his mate, a low purring noise vibrating from him. "Speaking of recharge, Megatron has ordered us to return to our quarters for some rest before we celebrate our victory."

Skywarp's optics glinted brightly, "But TC," he started, running a violet digit down Thundercracker's cockpit, "I've been resting all day," he looked at his mate suggestively, "Can't we do something else in the berth?"

* * *

><p>Optimus watched as the Decepticons took to the sky, lowering his gun after he was sure they would not turn back for more. Scanning his optics over the chaos that the 'Cons had left, he let a quiet sigh of air from his vents. "Any casualties? Prowl, headcount."<p>

Nodding, the Second In Command began counting and listing the Autobots he saw. Frowning, the police car double checked before turning to his Prime, "We're missing one, Prime."

Prime frowned behind the battle mask, "Who?"

"Hound, sir."

"Spread out, locate and return Hound," Prime ordered, the other Autobots nodding and spreading out to search the area for their missing comrade.

Ten minutes later, Mirage's voice came across the com, "I've found him, we need to get him back to Ratch quickly."

The others turning to make their way to Mirage, Prime frowned, "What happened?"

"I don't know sir, it looks like an explosion, but it's not from any weapon I've seen from the Decepticons." There was a slightly pause in Mirage's explanation, "Hold on, there seems to be something coating him."

"Well what is it?" Ironhide's voice rang out, his thick accent making his voice clearly distinguishable.

"It's thin, but I think it's jet fuel."

"Jet fuel? Why the slag would Hound be covered in jet fuel?" Ironhide asked, making his way towards where Mirage's coordinates were. However he stopped short when he saw a still frame in front of him, one that was definitely note Hound. "Uh, I think I answered that myself."

Pinching the bridge of his nose above his battle mask, an annoying habit he did when slightly stressed, Prime asked; "What it it, 'Hide?" Knowing that nothing good could have his mate's voice so shaken.

"Well, from what it looks like, a pile of scrap, but I'm pretty sure it's Starscream. I'm gunna take a closer look," Ironhide responded, making Prime's frown deepen.

"Be careful, Ironhide," Prime warned, knowing from past experiences that Starscream was not against playing dead to get the upper hand.

"I really don't think ya have ta worry Optimus, if he's not in stasis lock he's deactivated." Ironhide responded, kneeling close to the unmoving Seeker, Starscream's back to Ironhide. From what he could gather at first hand, one of the Seeker's wings were crushed beneath him, the other scorched badly. Smoke rose from Starscream's thrusters, energon dripping from cracks and burns, if the Seeker wasn't running dangerously low on energon he soon would be. "Optimus, Starscream needs immediate attention from Ratch. I'm attachin' an energon line to him to try an' keep him stable, but yer gunna need ta have Skyfire come an' bring him home because I dun dare carry him back m'self."

Hurrying to his mate's side, Optimus had to stifle the shock at how bad the Seeker actually looked. Hearing it come from Ironhide was one thing, but seeing it first hand was a completely different story. "Holy slag," Optimus muttered, voice low even though he was with his mate and he knew Ironhide would never be insulted by the Prime's choice of language. "I'm sending a com to Skyfire right now."

Frowning, Ironhide added, "Tell him it's Starscream before hand, an' that the Seeker's in real bad shape before hand so that he doesn't freak out." Nodding, Optimus sent the com while Ironhide disconnected an energon line from his abdominal plating and attached it to a receptor, starting a steady energon line. It wasn't anywhere near as sophisticated and productive as a medical line, but it was good for quick fixes on the battlefield with no medic present.

"Skyfire's on his way with Ratchet," Optimus told Ironhide, opening a com with Mirage next, "Mirage, how's Hound?"

"Online and stabling, some minor burns, no real wounds other than that. I guess he just got tossed around a bit, sir."

"Alright, head back to base, Ironhide and I will rejoin you later."

"Yes, sir." The respond came from a number of mechs, and he could hear the sounds of them transforming a little ways away before hearing them heading back to the west.

"How is he Ironhide?" Prime asked, turning back towards his mate where he knelt beside him.

"I couldn't really tell ya Optimus, I'm no good at this medic stuff."

Sighing slightly, Prime had to agree with him, he wasn't a medic either and had no idea what to do in this sort of situation. They couldn't exactly leave Starscream to fend for himself like this, the mech would surely offline if they hadn't found him. The only logical solution would be to take the Seeker in, heal him, then try and get some Decepticon intel out of him. As Second In Command, Starscream was sure to know Decepticon strengths and weaknesses, perhaps even some of Megatron's most tightly kept plans.

The sound of a heavy jet landing pulling his attention to his right, Skyfire's thrusters powering down as Ratchet stepped from the shuttle. The medic had not been present in the battle because of how close he was to birthing his and Wheeljack's second sparkling. Irritation-probably from being brought out of recharge-disappeared quickly at seeing the state Starscream was in. Closer inspection saw that Spike had also accompanied the medic and scientist, unable to pass up the opportunity to get a close up view of the Seeker.

When Ratchet knelt down and began patching the stuff he could to make sure Starscream would make the flight back to base, Spike's jaw dropped at the sight of the crumpled mech. "Holy cow," the human muttered, stepping closer. Inspecting the Seeker, Spike saw that the mech's cockpit was seemingly the only thing not completely damaged. There were burns and a few dents here and there, but Starscream seemed to have crossed his arms over his chassis to prevent too much damage. Placing a curious hand to the yellow glass, as soon as he made contact he pulled away with a hiss.

"What's wrong?" Ironhide asked, worried for the damageable human.

"Nothing, he's just really hot," Spike explained, wrapping his hand in his shirt, "His cockpit burnt me."

Kneeling beside his old friend Skyfire inspected the Seeker, though he couldn't diagnose as thoroughly as Ratchet. Frowning, Skyfire touched a gently hand to Starscream's chassis as well, noticing the significant increase in temperature. "His core is running hotter, it's not just the burns from the explosion." Turning to Ratchet, Skyfire's blue optics dimmed with worry for his old friend. "Do you think he has a virus?"

Leaning away from the mech, checking for any opens wounds he would need to wield before deeming Starscream stable enough for the ride back to the base, Ratchet shook his helm. "I won't know anything until I have him in my med bay and I have all my tools on hand." At Skyfire's worried expression, Ratchet offered a small smile to Skyfire. "He'll make it through, Sky. For now, let's get you transformed so we can get him back into functioning order."

Not completely convinced, Skyfire simply nodded, transforming into his alt-mode and opening the doors to his cargo hold. Standing with a little difficulty at the weight of his almost-due sparkling, Ratchet turned to Ironhide and Optimus. "I'm going to have to ask you two to bring Starscream aboard since I cannot do it myself."

Nodding, Ironhide and Optimus both carefully grasped Starscream, careful of his wounds. Gingerly lifting the broken Seeker and carrying him up the ramp and into Skyfire's cargo hold, setting Starscream down on the floor while sitting against the walls beside the still form.

Opening a private com to Ratchet who sat on the other side of Starscream with Spike, he asked the question he didn't want to ask in front of Skyfire. "Well, Ratchet? Is he going to make it?"

Prime could see the sigh escaping the medic's vents as Ratchet rubbed at his sore chassis. "Honestly," Ratchet sent back, "I have no idea."

* * *

><p>Thundercracker was starting to get a little worried, the celebration had been going on for about a megacycle and Starscream had yet to appear. He could understand if his trine leader was slightly tired from the battle this afternoon, however Starscream would have at least appeared for the celebration, even if it were only for an hour. Thundercracker could tell that Megatron was slightly irritated at his lack of SIC, optics darting across the room every now and then as if to look for him.<p>

Getting Skywarp's attention, the violet mech turning from his chat with Astrotrain to look at Thundercracker. "Yeah, TC?"

"I'm going to check on Starscream," he told his mate, adding a warning to not get caught drinking through a private com. Standing, Thundercracker left the Rec Room, feeling Megatron's optics follow him as Thundercracker started down the hall way that would lead to Starscream's quarters.

When he reached the door, he pressed his audio receivers against the door, listening for any signs of movement that would indicate Starscream being awake. Hearing none, he entered the command to open the door, Starscream not really caring that they knew it since they knew not to bother him if he were busy and for the simple fact that if Skywarp wanted to get in, he could just warp himself in. "Starscream?" Thundercracker called out when the door retracted. The room was dark and eerily quiet, not even the sound of air escaping vents filled the room. Frowning, Thundercracker walked further inside, turning the lights on in Starscream's sleeping area only to find the berth empty.

Cursing, Thundercracker hurried out of the room, heading back towards the rec room at a much more quick pace. Seeing his mate's distress, Skywarp stood from his seat, hurrying over to where Thundercracker was making a beeline towards Megatron. Seeing Megatron's frown deepen as he saw the frantic look in his Seeker's eyes, Thundercracker simply quickened his pace, stopping at the front of Megatron's throne, where the silver gun-former slouched, optics slightly dim.

"Lord Megatron, did Starscream return from battle this afternoon with you?"

Megatron's frown deepened, partly at the idea of his SIC causing trouble and the fact that the sound of Starscream's name and the fact that he was missing slightly dampened the high-grade induced haze that had come over him. "I was in Astrotrain's cargo bay with Soundwave and Hook, I had assumed Starscream was with you."

Skywarp, of which had just appeared by Thundercracker's side in time to hear what the conversation was about, looked up at Thundercracker fearfully. Thundercracker's worry began to steadily raise. "And I had assumed he was with you in Astrotrain's cargo bay."

Megatron's optics brightened as his overcharge left him, bringing a fist to his mouth as he bit back whatever worry stirred deep within him, trying to cover it up with anger. "And when was the last time you saw your trine leader? I certainly didn't see him participating very hard in the battle."

"The last time I saw Starscream one of the ground-pounding twins shot him down, he had offlined and I went back to fight them off. When I returned to where he had fallen he wasn't there, I assumed he had answered your call of retreat."

Frowning, Megatron clenched his fist harder. The only answer he could come up with was that his Second In Command had been taken prisoner by the Autobots, the aftheads probably took advantage of the Seeker's inability to fight back and took him captive. Megatron couldn't decide who to be more angry at; the Autobots for taking his SIC, or Thundercracker for leaving him defenseless. Deep within whatever was left of his spark, he had always found his SIC attractive, regardless of his traitorous personality. Perhaps it was what made him announce Starscream as his SIC and Air Commander in the first place.

The Seeker was indescribable in the sky; stunning, beautiful, powerful. None of those words even compared to the real thing. The Seeker was smart too, if he only used his talents instead of wasting them. Perhaps that was one of the reasons he had been so susceptible to the Seeker's heat cycle. Regardless, the Decepticon leader could not act upon his feelings. It was a weakness, as soon as the Autobots or even another Decepticon that was looking to overthrow him found out, the Seeker would have been put in danger. So long as everyone believed that he hated his SIC, so long as everyone believed that he would eventually offline the 'worthless piece of slag', then no one else would try to.

He was brought out of his thoughts after noticing how quiet the two Seekers in front of him were being. Both were looking at each other intently; Thundercracker glaring and Skywarp somewhat pleading. Knowing they were taking through their bond or private com, whatever it was, Megatron's irritation rose at not being let in on whatever was so important that they need to discuss it at this very minute.

Growling, he brought the Seeker's attention back to himself, "Speak aloud or do not speak at all, if it is about your precious Air Commander I need to know so that I can decide what to do with the worthless little glitch." Skywarp once again brought pleading optics to his mate, Megatron's optics dimming in irritation. Finally Thundercracker yielded and nodded slightly to his bond mate.

Megatron watched curiously as Skywarp's cockpit clicked open and his bared his spark to Megatron. Frowning, Skywarp explained; "Starscream has not been entirely truthful to you Megatron."

"This is not news to me, Skywarp," Megatron growled out, "But enlighten me as to what he has believed to have gotten away with this time."

Swallowing the lump that suddenly appeared in his vocals, Skywarp motioned towards his chest. "As you can see; I am not with spark," Skywarp admitted, and he could see Megatron's optics brighten in anger and slight surprise. Upon seeing his leader's anger, Skywarp began rambling, speaking quickly. "Thundercracker and I pretended to be creators so that when Starscream birthed his sparking we could pretend it was ours and you would never suspect that it was you and Starscream's sparkling from that time he was in heat about two stellercycles ago and so we came up with this whole elaborate plan because Starscream thought you'd kill him and the sparkling and-" Thundercracker nudged his mate's side harshly with his servo, optics wide at the secrets that poured out of his mate's mouth.

Megatron was deathly silent on his throne, his posture had stiffened and his optics were unfocused as he took in everything Skywarp had just confessed. Starscream was carrying his sparkling. Starscream had carelessly gone into battle two stellercycles into his carrying period. Starscream had gotten hurt. Starscream was in the hands of the Autobots. Starscream was in danger. The _sparkling _was in danger.

Fury exploded within Megatron and he let out a roar loud enough to completely silence the celebration that had been-until quite recently-going on around them. "Soundwave!" Megatron shouted to the telepath, and within seconds the blue and white mech was standing beside him. "I want every spy drone, every satellite, everything pinned on the Autobots. I want Starscream's locations. I want his condition. I want to know everything, and I want it within half an orn!"


	6. Chapter 6

**Title:** Keep It Together

**Author: **DeviousGypsy

**Summary:** Unbeknown to anyone else, Starscream is a young Seeker. So when he hits his first heat cycle, he has no idea how to handle it. His trine tries to help but the plan falls apart and brings Megatron and Starscream together in a strange way...only to have Starscream ripped from Megatron's servos.

**Warnings:** Slash, mech-preg, the like :P

**Pairings:** Megatron/Starscream, Thundercracker/Skywarp

**Chapter:** VI

**Notes:** This chapter's pretty jumpy, a lot of skipping around but I hope it still makes sense. I don't know if I'll be posting this weekend, since I've got a pretty hectic schedule at work, but if not there will be a new chapter Monday or at the very latest Tuesday. I really hope this chapter makes sense, I worked on it all night, passed out still working on it, and woke up this morning and went straight on to finish it. Kind of short too, but I'll have much longer to work on the next chapter which will be when we find out all the answers to the questions I'm sure this chapter will bring out. Enjoy!

Orn = Roughly 4.7 Earth days, Vorn = 83 Earth years, Breem = 1 Earth minute, Stellercycle = 1 Earth month, Megacycle = 1 Earth hour

* * *

><p>When Skyfire landed, Ratchet had Optimus and Ironhide carry Starscream to the med bay while he sent a com to Wheeljack to make sure that absolutely no one was to be inside the med bay. He had Ironhide and Optimus set the Seeker on a berth closest to his office, immediately setting up an energon line and a few other stabilizing and painkilling liquids into the Seeker's neck cables. While Ratchet worked to at least stabilize the Decepticon before them, Optimus turned to Ironhide.<p>

"I am going to stay here for a while, just so that Ratchet can give me a diagnosis of Starscream's state. Will you call a meeting and explain to the others what's happened?" At Ironhide's frown Optimus almost rolled his eyes, "Then can you at least tell Prowl of the situation and have him set up a meeting?"

Smiling Ironhide nodded, "Right on it, Optimus."

Optimus turned his attention to Ratchet, who had finished attaching cables and was now examining Starscream's outer appearance trying to figure out what exactly happened. Frowning, Ratchet opened a com to Hound, not bothering to make it private so Prime could hear too. "Hound, where are you?"

There was a ping of surprise on the other end from Hound, "Well, Wheeljack's taking care of my burns in his lab since you've closed off the med bay."

"For good reason," Ratchet clipped, "I need you to tell me exactly what happened with you and Starscream."

"Oh, well I found him in the trees kind of just sneaking around, and I noticed he had a clear shot to Prime, so I jumped him before he could attack. I think he was grounded cause the twins shot him down, either way he was leaking energon from his wing I think." Ratchet frowned at that, moving to Starscream's back to see if he could find the wound Hound was talking about. Sure enough, on Starscream's crumpled wing, right at the seam, there was a gun wound, already patched up when he welded the open wounds.

"Alright, so how'd you both get burned?"

"Well, Starscream pushed away from me a little bit, and he seemed really out of it."

"Out of it, how?" Ratchet pressed before Hound could continue.

"Well I dunno, tired I guess? Anyway, I had pulled out my gun but wasn't about to shoot when I saw how tired he looked. But then he threw his hand out as if to grab for my gun and I fired, I think I missed him though. Either way, I hit some of his energon and BOOM! It was like when Wheeljack's inventions blow up, huge explosion."

"Jet fuel," Ratchet explained, "Highly explosive." He cut the com to Hound and frowned. "Starscream being tired doesn't make any sense," Ratchet muttered, and Optimus wasn't sure if he was talking to him or himself. "Perhaps Skyfire was right when he mentioned a virus, it would explain his core temperature being high."

Ratchet increased his firewalls tenfold before opening Starscream up and examining him. If Starscream had a virus, Ratchet didn't want to catch it, not while carrying at least. Moving to a panel on Starscream's side, Ratchet began the medical override codes that would open Starscream's cockpit. The yellow glass clicked, sliding open and casting blue light across Ratchet's frame. Leaning against the berth beside Starscream's Optimus's view of the Seeker's spark was blocked by Starscream's dented sholder.

"Frag," Ratchet cursed loudly, moving to increase the flow of energon in the drip as his moves became more frantic. "That certainly explains a few things."

Tensing but not daring to move in case it was a virus and he didn't have the medical firewalls Ratchet had, Optimus asked; "What is it Ratchet?"

"He's carrying," Ratchet snarled, "It explains why the energon was so thin and why his core temperature was so high. Frag he's in a lot more danger than we originally intended."

"Is the sparkling okay?" Prime asked, finally moving closer now that there was no virus threat.

"Sparklings, Prime, as in plural," Ratchet corrected, gathering more tools that would tell him the sparklings' condition. "Seekers usually have three sparklings, that way if anything were to happen, the three siblings could become a trine instead of having to seek out other Seekers." Prime frowned at that, three sparklings and in this shape was not a good thing. "Luckily," Ratchet continued, breaking Prime of his thoughts, "He's only carrying two, a third would have killed him."

"How far along is he?" Prime asked, shocked that Starscream would risk his and his sparklings' lives so carelessly. He knew Seeker protocols to protect sparklings, so in order for Starscream to put himself and them in such danger, he had to have been a hundred percent positive he was doing the right thing.

"About an Earth week over two stellercycles."

Optimus inwardly cursed, "Can you fix him before they're due?"

Ratchet glanced back to Starscream, "Three weeks?" He turned his optics up to Prime, "I'll do it two."

* * *

><p>"Lord Megatron. Starscream: located." Megatron optics darted to the side where Soundwave stood, the mech's visor glowing brightly as he was getting an information feed from one of his creations.<p>

"Where is he?" The silver mech growled out, to say that Megatron's mood had been foul since he found out the truth would have been an understatement. Megatron had gotten no recharge, sitting in his throne as he waited for Starscream to be found and his condition reported.

"Location: Autobot medical bay."

"And his condition?"

"Status: stasis." Megatron's fists clenched tighter at that. It was bad enough that the Seeker was with the Autobots, it meant that they knew about the sparkling and that they would probably keep the Seeker prisoner. Perhaps they would even take the sparkling from him, deciding that the sparkling would need to be raised in the Autobot way. Megatron let out an involuntary snarl at that, if the Autobots so much as dared to touch his sparkling, he'd rip their sparks from their chests.

Taping his digits on the arm rest of his throne in thought, Megatron frowned deeply. He couldn't exactly attack the Autobots in order to take back what was rightfully his. There were more Autobots than there were Decepticons, and the would surely be thwarted before they even reached the Ark. In their current position it seemed that the only way for Starscream to escape was if he were to do it on his own, but if he were wounded enough to be in stasis it seemed impossible for the Seeker to be well enough to plan an escape before the sparkling was due.

"Keep your spies on him, Soundwave. If there's an opening to bring him back, alert me."

* * *

><p>Coming online seemed inevitable when all he wanted to do was stay offline, away from the pain, away from reality. However, his systems didn't think that was such a great idea as they started onlining one by one. One of his first systems to online were his audios, just to make sure there were no enemies around as the last thing his memory banks could pull up was being in the middle of a battle against the Autobots. There were voices, voices he didn't recognize and couldn't make out just yet, his audios working to come fully online after being in stasis.<p>

"-you sure it's such a good idea?" Came the first voice, slightly muffled even though Starscream was sure his audios were completely online.

"Yes, 'Jack. Fender will be fine in here, Seeker protocols put a sparkling's needs even above their own. And considering how hard Starscream will fight for his own life..." The other voice, clear and not muffled, trailed off, as if proving his point. Suddenly Starscream was harshly reminded of his own sparkling, memories of the battle; getting shot down, being attack...the explosion.

His spark seized at the thought of loosing his sparkling, his systems suddenly trying to come on; too quickly. His frame sputtered, his systems began shutting back down, warnings causing his processors to crash as reentered stasis.

* * *

><p>Ratchet turned his attention to the monitors that began to beep wildly, alerts popping up on several of them. "Slag," Ratchet cursed, turning to the monitors to see what had set of the alarms. Wheeljack grasped his sparkling's sholder, pulling him closer and away from the Seeker laying completely still on the berth in front of them.<p>

Starscream's exterior wounds had recently been patched, taking Ratchet nearly an entire Earth week simply to fix the Seeker's wings. They didn't have the necessary parts to fix the Seeker's thrusters however, only having the parts for his wings because of Prowl's door-wings. "What's wrong?" Wheeljack looked down towards where the small voice came from, Fender, grasping hold of his creator's leg and only coming up to the mech's knee, watched as his carrier hurried to attend the winged Cybertronian on the berth.

Letting out an irritable sigh, Ratchet responded, "His systems attempted to online but something seized them up. I'm not entirely sure what."

"And the sparklings?" Wheeljack asked, stepping closer to his mate while keeping a watchful eye on the Decepticon.

"No change," Ratchet sighed, putting a hand to his helm, "Truthfully I don't know if either Starscream or the sparklings will live past the birth. One of the sparklings took a lot of damage during the fall, I'm surprised it's lasted this long."

"What's wrong with it?" Fender asked, though he was too young to truly understand he was still curious.

Smiling at his mechling, Ratchet set a hand on Starscream's recently repaired wing. "Well, nothing to deform it or anything, the protoform it's self is fine. But it's development is off, something I can't pinpoint." The youngling replied with an 'Oh', most of what his carrier had said going over his processor's current state.

* * *

><p>This time, Starscream made sure to online slowly, his frame sore from his last attempt. When his audios came online, he was greeted by silence, unlike the last time. Slowly onlining his optics, he attempted to sit up, only to find cuffs on his wrists and a heavy weight on his chassis that wasn't there before. He groaned, wanting to rub at his sore chest but unable to move his arms.<p>

"Ah, finally online?" A voice asked to his left. Moving his optics in that direction, Starscream found the mech the voice belonged to. Ratchet slipped from the berth he had currently been resting on, going to stand next to Starscream's berth.

"Why the slag am I pinned to this Primusforsaken berth?" Starscream asked, his vocals raspy from lack of usage. "I hardly have the energy to move let alone escape."

Unlocking the cuffs around Starscream's wrists, Ratchet frowned, "Well, you attempted to online twice before. When you did your frame spazzed and we didn't want you to end up hurting yourself."

As soon as his servos were free they flew to his cockpit, now much more swollen and heavier than he remembered. "How," he paused, vents starting to heave in panic. "How long have I been out?" Starscream watched as Ratchet walked towards a small crib like berth at the foot of the adjacent berth. "That's not..." Starscream trailed off, Optics dimming at the small frame inside the berth.

Ratchet waved him off, "No, this is my sparkling. Birthed only two Earth days ago," turning back towards Starscream after giving the small femme a feeding line. "Your sparklings are still within your chassis, though you've been out for a little longer than two Earth weeks so you can expect to be seeing them shortly."

Frowning, Starscream gripped at his cockpit, "They?" Fear gripping at his spark, Starscream sat up. "I have to get back," he muttered, his processors finally realizing where he was and if he didn't get back to the Nemesis soon everything would fall apart. However, as soon as he stepped off the berth and placed his weight on his thrusters, pain sent him pitching forward. Luckily Ratchet was expecting this and held a hand out to push him back to the berth.

"Yes, they, as in twins," Ratchet explained, "I don't have the parts to repair your thrusters, and I'm afraid I can't let you leave."

Starscream groaned as he laid back in the berth, "Why? So you can keep me prisoner? Learn all the Decepticon secrets while you take my sparklings away from me to teach them like an Autobot?" The Seeker asked sarcastically, his optics bright in pain and anger towards the entire Autobot faction.

"That's basically the plan."

Starscream scoffed, "I won't speak a word, and you aren't getting your filthy soft-sparked servos near my sparklings."

Ratchet frowned, moving back to rest against the berth behind him after taking back the feeding line from the recharging sparkling. "Who's the other creator?" The CMO asked, crossing his arms over his chassis and ignoring Starscream's previous comments. He couldn't imagine Megatron keeping the sparklings online, specially if they hindered his Air Commander. The only logical explanations that Ratchet had were that either Megatron was not aware of the carrying Seeker or Megatron had intentionally left Starscream alone and dying on the battlefield in an attempt to finally be rid of his obnoxious Air Commander.

Starscream frowned, clenching his fangs in irritation, "That's none of your business, Autobot."

Holding his hands up in surrender, Ratchet fought back a smirk, "Just curious." Ratchet's demeanor became serious again, optics dimming as his optics shot to Starscream's chassis before moving back to look Starscream in the optics. "As a medic, it's my job to tell you the cold hard truth, and you're not going to like what I have to tell you." The Seeker's frame tensed, guessing that the words coming from the medic's vocalizer next would be about his sparklings and would not be good.

"Spit it out, Autobot, before I go into recharge on you," Starscream growled, his systems already slowing as exhaustion took over.

"I can't assure that you'll stay online during the birth, your systems are still a mess from the explosion, and I don't have the Seeker programming to repair you. I also can't assure that your sparklings will be birthed online either, one of them I honestly don't know how it's lasted this long."

Starscream's spark jumped at that, and he didn't bother hiding the fear that took over him. After everything they'd been through; hiding from Megatron, bringing the trine closer as almost a make-shift family for the younglings. And now everything could be taken away from him, his fists clenched at his side weakly, processors running wild. "You should just let me leave, Hook has the repairs I need."

Ratchet let a heave of air out of his vents, "Think about it Starscream, if you had Prowl wounded in your med bay, would you let him leave?"

An angry Vosian chirp erupted from Starscream's vocalizer, "I thought you Autobots were soft sparked, weak willed, and understanding."

Ratchet was quiet for a moment, "This is a war, Starscream."


	7. Chapter 7

**Title:** Keep It Together

**Author: **DeviousGypsy

**Summary:** Unbeknown to anyone else, Starscream is a young Seeker. So when he hits his first heat cycle, he has no idea how to handle it. His trine tries to help but the plan falls apart and brings Megatron and Starscream together in a strange way...only to have Starscream ripped from Megatron's servos.

**Warnings:** Slash, mech-preg, the like :P

**Pairings:** Megatron/Starscream, Thundercracker/Skywarp

**Chapter:** VII

**Notes:** So, I'm really glad that I had the weekend to pull this chapter out, because I don't know why but I had the hardest time of trying to figure out where I wanted to go with it and how I wanted to portray/word it. I had it done for Tuesday but didn't have internet, so I apologize for that. Anyway, I hope it's up to your standards, feedback is amazing and I want to thank you all so much! I just have a question for you; my friend challenged me to do this 200 word prompt, you write a short 1000 to 2000 word scene for each of the 200 words. If I worked on a few of them and set it based around this story would that be something anyone would be interested in? I'm just curious.

Orn = Roughly 4.7 Earth days, Vorn = 83 Earth years, Breem = 1 Earth minute, Stellercycle = 1 Earth month, Megacycle = 1 Earth hour

* * *

><p>Wheeljack frowned, a com interrupting his time with his sparklings; Drift recharging nearby while Fender helped with his latest project. His frown only grew when he say that it was Ratchet. "What's wrong, Ratch?" He asked, knowing that Ratchet would only call him during an emergency.<p>

"Seems like the twin's are punctual," Ratchet answered, his voice stressed, "Starscream's tried to hide it, but I noticed that he was in pain just a little while ago. He admits to having been in labor for about four hours now."

"What can I do?" Wheeljack asked, rubbing one of Fender's shoulders to sooth the tense sparkling who had noticed Wheeljack's urgency.

"I need you down here, 'Jack."

Walking towards the berth, Wheeljack turned to Fender, "Follow me," he told him calmly. "What do you want me to do with the sparklings?" Wheeljack asked into the com, lifting Drift from her berth, causing her to shift irritably, blue optics blinking alive as she started fussing.

"Drop them off with Prime, he'll understand. 'Jack if I don't have an extra set of servos here he'll die." Wheeljack sent a confirmation over the com, taking Fender's hand and making his way towards the rec room where the Prime was recently enjoying a cube of energon.

Sure enough, the large mech was seated in one of the large chairs, a cube in one hand and a data pad in the other. Fender, excited at seeing the larger mech, ran over, practically throwing himself into the truck's lap. Looking down from his data pad to glance at the mechling, Optimus looked over to Wheeljack, a smile behind his battle mask. "Evening, Wheeljack."

"Hey, Prime," Wheeljack greeted, his voice apologetic as he walked over to the Prime who's lap was now full of sparkling. "Is it too much to ask for you to watch over Drift and Fender? Starscream's gone into labor and if Ratchet doesn't get some help then Starscream will probably deactivate."

Prime stood, Fender sliding down his lap to stand at his side, Optimus taking Drift into his arms, the recharging sparkling hardly moving as her position was changed. "Alright, have Ratchet com me if he needs anything."

"Will do Prime," Wheeljack responded before uttering a thanks, waving to his sparklings as he hurried out the door and towards the med bay. Opening the doors, he locked them behind him so that no one else would wander in here to find the weak Seeker in such a state. "How is he Ratch?"

The white mech turned at the sound of his mates voice, "Stable for now. I increased his energon drip in order for him to sustain some of the energy enough to birth, I also dulled some of his pain sensors." When Wheeljack opened his mouth to go against Ratchet's words, the medic held a hand out to stop him. "Dangerous to do on a carrying mech, I know. However if I didn't then he would have gone into emergency stasis and we'd lose all three of them." From behind them Starscream hissed in pain, a new wave washing over his frame as parts shifted in his chassis to make room for the oncoming sparklings. "Can you go over there and make sure he's comfortable?"

Wheeljack's optics brightened in surprise, "How do I do that?"

"Just talk to him, you've been at my berthside while I was birthing, do the same thing. I need to finish this incubator for the sparklings, hopefully it will keep them alive long enough to make it on their own." Lowering his voice so that Starscream couldn't hear him, Ratchet added; "Prime has ordered that if it comes down to it; save the sparklings. The odds of Starscream spilling Decepticon intelligence is lower than our chances of raising the sparklings in an Autobot fashion." Frowning with a nod, Wheeljack turned, observing the Seeker laid on his back, claws extended and gripping harshly at the berth.

Standing at Starscream's side, Wheeljack took once last glance at his mate, not entirely sure how to go about calming and relaxing a Decepticon. "You know," Wheeljack started, "For Ratch it was easier for him to lay on his side."

Growling as a new wave of pain hit that made his optics almost go white, Starscream snapped at him. "I can't turn on my side you afthead! My wings are pinned under me and aren't repaired enough to completely move!"

Frowning as Wheeljack just realized that, he rubbed at the back of his helm. "Right, sorry."

Starscream stared at the scientist angrily, "If you have nothing else to say," he hissed out, "Then would you mind leaving me to do this on my own. I'm sure your mate has something for you to do until the time comes." Taking the invitation to leave, Wheeljack moved back away from the berth, going to Ratchet's side to help with the incubator.

Now that the two mech's attention was off him, Starscream opened his com and sent a com to Thundercracker. The response was faster than Starscream expected; "Starscream! Primus, are you okay?"

"Fan-fragging-tastic," Starscream hissed back, Thundercracker sent back waves of apology before switching to waves of confusion.

"Why haven't you gotten in contact sooner? How are the sparklings?"

Expecting the surprise, but slightly shocked at the panic, Starscream shut the com in order to ride out the next wave of pain. When it was finished, Starscream responded; "They took away my communicator, I just don't think they comprehended that I was a scientist stuck with nothing to do for an orn but lay on the medical berth. I fixed my own communicator this morning but didn't have a chance to use it before..."

Sending more waves of panic, Thundercracker pressed him for more information. "Before what, Starscream? What's going on, I need to know, we have to get you out of there."

"Thundercracker," Starscream started, "The sparklings are coming."

"Frag."

"Ratchet doesn't think one of them will survive."

There was silence on the other end for a breem, during which Starscream closed it off for another wave of pain. "There's more than one?" Thundercracker sent back, shocked.

"Two, but during the explosion I landed on my side, Ratchet said the smallest sparkling took the damage." There was another long silence, Starscream going over the plan in his processors while Thundercracker realized his trine leader was in a lot more damage than originally thought. "Look, Thundercracker, I'll explain what happened as soon as you guys get me the slag out of here. Do you think that you could get Astrotrain here without Megatron realizing? My thrusters and a wing are busted, I couldn't get off the ground if I wanted to."

Another long silence, "Starscream we had to tell Megatron."

Starscream ground his fangs, pressing his clawed servo to his aching chassis that was already leaking, not only birthing fluids, but his own energon as well. "What?" He growled, "Why?"

"Well for one, Skywarp would have been due any day now and we didn't have an actual sparkling to show for it. Besides, with you wounded and missing, Megatron had a right to know. He located you and has ordered Soundwave to keep his spies on you. The only reasons we haven't attack is because there are more Autobots than there are Decepticons, attacking the Ark is just asking for trouble."

Rubbing at his chassis, Starscream looked over towards where Ratchet and Wheeljack seemed to be finishing up with the incubator. Hurrying to think of a new plan now that Megatron was aware of their sparklings, Starscream offlined his optics. "Listen, Thundercracker, I don't have much longer, the Autobots only want the sparklings and I don't know if I'll make it through the night." Thundercracker was silent, the mech sending waves of reassurance to Starscream. "I need a distraction, send a few mechs to attack a small oil factory that doesn't matter if we lose it or not."

He paused, a stronger wave of pain breaking the seal in his chassis, announcing that the sparklings were now ready. "While the Autobots focus on that attack, you and Skywarp come with Astrotrain and get the sparklings out. I have to cut the com now, inform Megatron of the plan and tell him to get here as quickly as possible, it won't be long before they're born."

"Alright, Starscream," Thundercracker replied, "We'll see you then." Not having the spark to tell Thundercracker otherwise, knowing that he was simply reassuring himself, Starscream cut the com.

Shifting up into a sitting position, Starscream turned towards Ratchet and Wheeljack. "It's time," he alerted them, groaning as his chest plates throbbed.

Ratchet turned away from the finished incubator to stand at Starscream's berthside, "Alright, Starscream, this is going to be painful for your thrusters, but I'm going to need for you to hang your peds over the side of the berth. That was we can get you slightly hunched over and you won't have to spend so much energy trying to get the twins out." Swallowing back a yell, Starscream shifted his legs, his broken thrusters scraping against the berth and causing his optics to whiten out. "Good, alright now, I need you to open your chest plates and then I'll sever the lines and we'll get them out of here." Turning to Wheeljack he said; "'Jack, I'm going to need you behind Starscream, keep his hands away from his chest. It's going to hurt enough for him to not realize that we're trying to help and he'll try and stop me, I need you to keep him as still as possible."

"Gotchya, Ratch," Wheeljack moved to the other side of the berth, grasping the seeker's arms at the joint, keeping him still. Starscream shivered as the cool air of the med bay hit the heated insides of his chassis. Ratchet swore at the mess within, not having been able to repair Starscream's chassis while his systems cared for and grew the sparklings within. There was dried energon coating some of the parts within and the waves of pain had caused a few injuries to start leaking energon again. Wheeljack noticed the look in his mates faceplates, knowing that whatever was inside was not good.

"This is the easy part," Ratchet assured, treating the Decepticon as he would every other patient. Sliding his hand inside the Seeker's chassis, carefully moving around his spark casing, he located the lines connecting Starscream with the first sparkling, the largest and healthiest of the two. Starscream gasped slightly when Ratchet severed the line, an emptiness filling him at the loss of his connection towards his sparkling. "Now here's where we have to be careful. 'Jack, keep an eye on that energon drip for me, if Starscream starts getting weak, increase it. Starscream, I'm going to need you to bear down, slightly curling inward, that way the sparkling can be ejected from you."

Nodding, Starscream braced himself, feeling another wave of pain flow over him. Leaning forward, Starscream gripped at the berth, bearing down and feeling the sparkling shift within. At first, he almost felt like laughing at the mech, Starscream had felt more pain during Megatron's beatings. However, as the sparkling got closer to the outside world, Starscream's wounds were strained, the sparkling moving and hitting some of them. He screeched, trying to reach up towards the source of the pain, only to have Wheeljack's servos hold his much weaker arms back.

"Come on Starscream," Ratchet encouraged, watching as Starscream stopped to rest, his frame shaking in pain and weakness. Nodding towards Wheeljack to increase the drip, Ratchet peaked into Starscream's bared chest. "Once more and the sparkling should just slid out." Unfortunately that wasn't the end of it, they'd have to do it once more, and looking at Starscream now, Ratchet was sure he wouldn't make it through.

Digging his claws into the soft metal of the berth, Starscream curled forward, bearing down as if trying to force a transformation that simply wouldn't work. The sparkling, moving towards the more injured front of his chassis, shifted into a position where Ratchet could cup it's back and ease the small being from it's carrier. Feeling the sparkling slid over his wounds, Starscream cried out again, feeling the warm frame of his sparkling slid out with the help of the Autobot medic.

Given time to try and regain some energy before the second and more dangerous sparkling came forth, Starscream's dull optics went to rest on the frame that Ratchet was clearing of fluids and energon. "Well?"

Ratchet held the now clean sparkling up for Starscream to see, "A healthy mechling," Ratchet informed him, inspecting the sparkling again. "However, he doesn't seem to be a Seeker. Too young to tell what he'll be but if he were a Seeker he'd have stubs on his back that'll grow into wings." Starscream nodded, not trusting himself to hold the delicate thing without crushing him if a wave of pain hit. Sensing this, Ratchet simply moved to put the sparkling into the incubator, giving him a line full of the weak energon sparklings needed. "Would you like to know the power of his power chip rectifier so that you may properly give him a designation?" At Starscream's curious stare, Ratchet added; "We may be raising the sparklings to believe in the Autobot beliefs, but it is only right that the carrier assign them names."

Still trying to get himself together to prepare for the next sparkling, Starscream nodded. Ratchet waved Wheeljack over, wanting to clean Starscream as best he could before the more wounded sparkling made it's way through. Taking Ratchet's place to examine the sparkling, the first thing he noticed were the mechling's colors. A white silvery was his main color, while a deep red color made sleek patterns along his seams and servos. For a moment the sparkling reminded him of Megatron, but he brushed the thought off as quickly as it camel the idea of Megatron and Starscream creating sparklings together was simply too bizarre.

Sliding open the fragile chassis of the sparkling, Wheeljack examined the small chip located there, a chip that defined one's power. "Looks like he's has something very similar to your cluster bombs, except poisonous."

"Venom," Starscream bit out, teeth clenched in pain, "That shall be his designation."

Nodding, Wheeljack cast one last scrutinizing look at the silver sparkling before taking his spot back behind the laboring Seeker, grasping at his joints again. Ratchet reached his hand father into Starscream's chassis, causing the seeker to hiss in discomfort. Finally feeling his digits come in contact with the small sparkling, he located the lines and severed them much like the other sparkling. However, as soon as he did, the readings of the sparkling's vitals significantly dropped, no longer having it's carrier to provide it with the sustenance it needed, not being able to make it on it's own.

Cursing, Ratchet looked up into Starscream's dull yet wide optics, sensing the Seeker's fear at losing his sparkling while being unable to do anything about it. Cupping his hand around the tiny sparkling, Ratchet began manually leading the sparkling out, Starscream howled his pain at that. Knowing that this action alone would probably offline the Seeker, Ratchet could think of no other way of getting the sparkling out online.

Starscream's energon coating almost the entirety of his arm, Ratchet pulled away, the sparkling laying completely still in his servo. Collapsing back onto the berth, no longer having the strength to keep himself upright, Starscream watched Ratchet clean the unmoving and extremely tiny sparkling. Turning back to Starscream, Ratchet gave him a tentative smile. "He's online," Ratchet reassured, "He's a Seeker; small, tired, weak, and glitched but he's online."

Starscream's frame gave a violent shudder of exhaustion, "Glitched?"

Ratchet nodded, setting the sparkling beside his twin and attaching energon lines to him, more than his brother needed. "His systems are completely silent, I don't know why." Heaving a sigh of air from his vents, he added. "My medical evaluation leaves me with the belief that his systems aren't fully developed and he probably won't last the night."

"Stillenight," Starscream rasped, his optics offlining.

Wheeljack panicked, Starscream's medical alerts going off as he slipped offline. "Ratchet, Starscream's going back into stasis."

"Put another energon line in," Ratchet muttered, turning to give the sparklings his fullest attention. "There's not much else we can do for him."


	8. Chapter 8

**Title:** Keep It Together

**Author: **DeviousGypsy

**Summary:** Unbeknown to anyone else, Starscream is a young Seeker. So when he hits his first heat cycle, he has no idea how to handle it. His trine tries to help but the plan falls apart and brings Megatron and Starscream together in a strange way...only to have Starscream ripped from Megatron's servos.

**Warnings:** Slash, mech-preg, the like :P

**Pairings:** Megatron/Starscream, Thundercracker/Skywarp

**Chapter:** VIII

**Notes:** Oh, in case anyone was curious as to Stillenight's name, Stille is silent is German and he wasn't supposed to make it the night, so; Stillenight. Anyway, I apologize, I could have posted yesterday but I felt like leaving the suspense for a little while before posting the next chapter.

Orn = Roughly 4.7 Earth days, Vorn = 83 Earth years, Breem = 1 Earth minute, Stellercycle = 1 Earth month, Megacycle = 1 Earth hour

* * *

><p>An incisive and pressing com broke him from whatever darkness he had slipped into. As soon as he came back online, he was reminded of how much pain he was in, his frame shuddering a few times before he turned his pain sensors down to where the least of it was a dull ache. Onlining his optics, Starscream realized that he was alone in the med bay, there was no Wheeljack, no Ratchet, no one. Sitting up with a snarl, Starscream turned his audio senors up, listening intently for any sounds nearby. What he came up with shocked him.<p>

Down by the entrance of the base, Starscream could hear fighting, the sounds of guns firing and mechs hollering back and forth. He couldn't believe that Thundercracker had managed to convince Megatron of his idea. Looking across the room, his optics landed on the two mechlings recharging soundly in the incubator. Bracing himself for pain he knew was ahead, Starscream slid off the berth. He yelped slightly when he put his weight on his thrusters, and at first his knees buckled and he pitched forward.

Catching himself on the edge of one of the medic's counters, he propped himself up, whole frame tense at the pain. Looking back towards his sparklings and reminding himself that he needed to get those to back with the Decepticons, back with Thundercracker and Skywarp, Pits, he'd even give the sparklings to Megatron if it meant they were out of Autobot servos. Finding new strength in the thoughts of his sparklings, he pushed himself away from the counter, clenching his fangs through the pain as he limped his way to his sparklings.

Feeling their carrier close, they onlined their optics and immediately reached out for the mech they had wanted to be with but hadn't been able to. Starscream offered a weak smile towards the sparklings he had created, smile slightly faltering when he saw how dim Stillenight's optics were. Knowing that he had to hurry, he scooped them out of the incubator, attaching the both of them to his own energon lines before tucking them safely away in his armor.

Each step he took seemed harder and more painful than the last, but the thought of his sparklings dying kept him doing, forcing one thruster in front of the other. Knowing that there was an underground tunnel that would lead outside the Autobot base, he set about going through there, knowing that if he attempted to walk out the Ark entrance then he'd be caught and brought to medical bay as soon as possible, perhaps even the brig, which would make this entire attack a waste.

It took him seven breems to find the damn door, hidden away out of sight, much to his displeasure. He didn't know how long the Decepticons could keep the attack going before being forced to call a retreat. The wounds on his thrusters had broken open from walking on them, leaving trails of energon that he couldn't afford to waste behind him. Opening the hidden door, he slid himself down the hole, landing heavily on his thrusters and sending him to his knees with searing hot pain. Venom chirped from between his armor plates, sensing his carriers distress. Stillenight silent but still alive within his armor.

Starscream chirped in Vosian back, reassuring him as he tried to gather himself again. Standing, he reached up and pulled the door shut before continuing down the path. Running so that his weight was put on the front of his peds instead of his thrusters, Starscream made it to the end of the tunnel heaving air through his vents, his energon slowly leaving him and bringing him past the point of exhaustion.

He made it to the forest beyond the Ark before he allowed himself to fall, propping himself into a sitting position where he then remembered the com that had awoken him in the first place. Seeing that it had been Thundercracker trying to contact him, he allowed a frown, the blue Seeker probably thought that he had deactivated like Starscream told him he would. Pinging Thundercracker with his coordinates, Starscream couldn't help but fall back into the darkness knowing that his sparklings were safe for now.

* * *

><p>Thundercracker was disrupted during his battle with Wheeljack when he was sent Starscream's locations. Immediately forwarding them to Megatron, he knocked the Autobot scientist away with a hard backhand. Megatron's call for retreat erupted across the battlefield where instead of heading back towards the Nemesis, the silver tyrant beelined towards where Starscream was. Thundercracker and the others following to make sure it wasn't a trap set by the Autobots.<p>

The first thing Thundercracker noticed was the energon trails, making it easy to find the Seeker leaning against a rock. From what Thundercracker could tell, Starscream had fallen into stasis shortly after escaping and sending him his coordinates. What he couldn't locate was the sparklings, they didn't seem to be anywhere at all. However, as soon as Megatron knelt beside the offline Seeker, a chirp came from within Starscream.

Megatron looked Starscream over thoroughly, eventually finding the source of the chirps within the Seeker's armor. The young sparkling clearly understood that the mech close by was his creator, chirping to be noticed. Surprise crossed his faceplates for a brief moment when he noticed the second silent sparkling tucked behind the chirping one. Deciding they were safe there for the moment, Megatron lifted Starscream into his arms, not saying a word as he took to the air again and headed back to the Nemesis.

When they arrived, Megatron dismissed them and headed towards the med bay where Hook was prepped and ready for the Seeker. Laying Starscream on the berth, Megatron took a seat beside him, his optics never leaving the wounded Seeker and unnerving Hook slightly.

"My lord, where is the sparkling?" Hook asked, Megatron still not speaking as he simply pointed to the pocket in Starscream's armor where the Air Commander hid the sparklings. Pulling out the largest one, Hook went to walk away before Megatron stood. Optics still locked on the area where the other sparkling was still nestled, Megatron reached in and pulled out the silent one, handing him to the surprised medic.

Hook laid the two sparklings on the adjacent berth, the two immediately curling up around each other in the presence of this unknown mech. Leaving the room for a moment, Hook moved to his supply room, grabbing the necessary tools to repair Starscream's wing and thrusters, both simple repairs if one had the tools to repair them. The only thing Hook really was worried about was the Seeker's lack of energon, but after they gave him small amounts at a time so as not to send his systems into shock, the Seeker should be fine.

Standing next to Starscream, still slightly rattled by Megatron's presence, Hook worked on repairing the Seeker's wings and thrusters. He'd turn to the sparklings when he was finished, sensing no real threat in the larger one, but slightly worried about the silent Seeker. He'd never tell Megatron that though, Megatron seemed very much over protective and possessive about this family he'd unintentionally created. A trait that Hook found comforting and very awkward at the same time.

* * *

><p>The first thing Starscream noticed was that he was not in the same area he was in before, nor was he in the Autobot med bay, the Decepticon med bay, or even his own quarters. Panicked that the Autobots had found him and locked him in the brig, Starscream immediately reached in his armor for the sparklings, feeling nothing but his own protoform beneath. Shooting up from the rather comfortable berth that he had failed to notice, Starscream was relieved slightly to see the large Decepticon insignia painted on the bulkhead in front of him.<p>

Noticing that, Starscream began to take in the room scrutiny than before. The berth below him was large, more than large enough to fit two of him, wing span and all. There was also a cube of energon place on the desk, assumingly for him as he was the only mech in the room. Still curious as to where he was, Starscream sat up, heading for the cube that was practically crying out to him. When he stood, he was felt a wave of phantom pain that lasted only an astrosecond before disappearing entirely. Flexing his wings, he found that they too had been repaired.

Suddenly in a much better mood than he had been before, Starscream walked to the cube, taking it in his servo and sipping cautiously from it. It was a low grade of energon, since his tanks had been so low, a stronger grade would have caused him to purge and waste the energon. Taking another sip, Starscream noticed the pile of data pads on the desk as well. He picked one up, curious to see if they would tell him where he was, he examined the data pad. Chocking on the energon he had just taken in, he quickly set the data pad down, optics never leaving the name that was on the pad.

Megatron.

He was in Megatron's quarters.

Hearing movement to his left, he turned to see the very mech who's quarters her occupied. Megatron had moved the chair of the desk to the corner, practically hidden in the shadows. Starscream set the cube back down on the desk and as soon as his digits left the object, Megatron moved across the room in a speed that rivaled his own, grabbing Starscream by the throat and pinning him against the wall. Unsheathing his claws, Starscream grasped at Megatron's hand, to shocked by the action itself to even realize that Megatron wasn't actually hurting him.

Growling, Megatron leaned him close, locking optics with his Second In Command. "What made you think you could keep this from me?" His voice was full of complete rage, but his hold on the weaker mech before him was strong enough to hold him there but held none of the rage he spoke. "Hiding a part of my own spark from me," he continued, "Then throwing your life and theirs away so recklessly." Megatron's hand twitched for a moment, "I should deactivate you myself just for that."

Starscream stopped struggling for a moment, optics glinting brighter at the mention of their sparklings. "How," Starscream started, optics moving to their feet. "How are they?"

"Thundercracker has been watching them in your absence," Megatron replied, releasing the Seeker and moving to leave. "I will have him bring them to you, have duties to attend to." Looking back over his shoulder, Megatron sent a glare towards Starscream. "You are to stay here, in my quarters where I can watch you all. I will not have you making the same mistakes again."

Starscream watched as Megatron left the room, a servo going to his undamaged throat. His spark was racing, Megatron had said 'them', both sparklings were still functioning. Brushing off the strange encounter with Megatron, Starscream picked the cube back up, downing the remainder before setting it back down and sitting on the edge of the berth.

He didn't have to wait long for Thundercracker, followed by Skywarp, buzzed to be let into the room, not having the override codes. Starscream stood, opening the door to find that each trine mate held a sparkling, both functioning. Immediately handing the sparklings over to the distressed carrier, Starscream cradled the sparklings to his chassis before stepping aside to let his trine mates in.

Skywarp wrapped his arms around his trine leader, lose enough to not squish the sparklings, but tight enough to show Starscream how much he had missed him. Surprisingly, Starscream gave a slight one armed hug back, the other holding the sparklings. Taking a step back, Skywarp smiled at him, "We've missed you, Screamer."

Ignoring the hated nickname for a moment, Starscream offered a small smile back, Venom obsessively chirping how much he apparently missed him as well. Stillenight was still silent and small as ever, but seemed to hold on to his chest plates with a strong grip. "How long have I been here?"

"Almost exactly an orn," Thundercracker responded, "You were so low on energon that Hook wanted to let your systems adjust on their own. He was going to have you put in your own quarters but Megatron insisted that you stay in his."

Starscream's smile wavered at that, "Thank you," he said, changing the subject. "For watching the sparklings while I was in stasis."

Skywarp flung his servo out in a dismissive manner, "Please, we only watch them when Megsy's busy. When he's not fulfilling his job as our leader, he's been in here waiting for you to wake up and taking care of the sparklings." Skywarp's face dropped, "We almost lost the little guy," he explained, pointing to Stillenight. "He dropped into stasis a few times after we got you guys here, but while Hook tended to you Megatron kept him online."

Unconsciously, Starscream held the little ones closer, his systems almost stalling in shock. He had always thought that Megatron hated tiny and weak things, so it was only natural that he thought Megatron would offline the sparklings right off. If Megatron kept Venom that'd be one thing, the little guy already proved to be a strong and healthy sparkling, but Stillenight was weak and glitched. For Megatron to fight to keep Stillenight alive, it went against everything Starscream had believed in.

Pulling on Skywarp's hand, Thundercracker waved to Starscream. "We've gotta get going," he told Starscream, "Hook found out about Skywarp stealing his sparkling monitor and took it back on the basis that Skywarp and I have check ups after every heat cycle and 'Warp just finished his."

Skywarp waved to Starscream as well, "See ya later, Screamer!" He called before digging his thrusters into the ground. "Wait! We forgot to ask; what are their names? You've been out for so long we've been calling them 'big guy' and 'little guy'."

"Venom," Starscream answered, pointing to the large silver and red sparkling. "Stillenight," he added, pointing to the silver and yellow Seekerling.

Skywarp made an excited little chirp at the sparklings, "Well, see ya around Venom and Stillenight!" He cried before being dragged out of the room by Thundercracker who offered a smile towards the sparklings but clearly understood that Starscream needed time with his own sparklings.

Starscream took the two sparklings over to the berth with him, flicking his wings behind him so that he could lay on his side with the sparklings in front of him. As soon as Venom was on the berth, his optics began slowly shuttering, almost immediately falling into recharge. Stillenight however, looked up at his carrier, red optics bright as he laid there completely silent, not even his systems hummed to show they were all functioning, silent.

Running his digits down the Seekerling's back, he felt the small nubs that would become wings when he grew into them. What perhaps shocked Starscream the most about the silent sparkling, was not how quiet he was, but the mechling's coloring. Looking at Stillenight he saw what perhaps most mechs had forgotten, Starscream hadn't though. The horns that came from the top of his helm and stood out straight, yellow markings decorating their length. It was like he was there all over again.

Before Megatron was Megatron, before the Lord Protector and Leader of the Decepticons even had a name. When he was a newbie within the Gladiatorial battles, Starscream had been there, for his first fight, when he first killed as a Gladiator. After his victory, Megatron had removed his warrior helm, and let the light shine on his true appearance.

Stillenight's markings were the exact same, only sleeker because of his Seeker frame. It made Starscream's spark clench, seeing the mech Megatron once was, the mech Starscream had admired and would have done anything for. Before Megatron had gone crazed with this never ending war, before he had changed and gone cold.

Venom seemed to be a perfect blend between the two of them, the silver color from Megatron, the red from Starscream. His shape was more Megatron's, not sleek like a Seeker, perhaps a gun-former like Megatron. Definitely what would grow to be Starscream's attitude, which-Starscream would never admit-was slightly discouraging as Starscream could irritate himself sometimes. Seeing that Stillenight's optics had offlined and the Seekerling seemed to be in recharge, hard to tell with his silent systems but his spark told him that his sparkling was still alive and well, Starscream offlined his own optics, relaxing into the berth as he let himself fall into recharge as well, systems gaining their strength and comforted by the presence of his sparklings.

* * *

><p>It was sometime later that night, Starscream was woken to small servos gripping his chest plate a quiet and yet determined chirping close to his audio receivers. Onlining his optics, Starscream looked down to find Venom very close to his faceplates, chirping at him. Offlining his optics again, he reached into his abdomen and pulled out an energon line, holding it out for the hungry sparkling to take. Feeling the energon taken as Venom stuck it in his mouth, Starscream felt around him for Stillenight, knowing that he was probably hungry as well.<p>

Optics coming online quickly and brightly, he bathed he berth in their red glow, searching for the silent sparkling. His spark almost stopped at the sight before him. Megatron lay in front of him, turned on his side like Starscream himself, facing the Seeker while deep in recharge. Stillenight lay curled into Megatron's side, one of Megatron's own energon lines laying in the Seekerling's limp hand.

For some reason, Starscream smiled lightly at that, seeing the sparkling he'd had unintentionally with Megatron curled against his creator, while Megatron had obvious been woken sometime before him for a feeding. Another thing that confused Starscream, was that for some reason he felt safe; laying with his sparklings and the mech that sired them.

Brushing it off as a side effect of being held prisoner by the Autobots, Starscream allowed himself to slip back into recharge.

* * *

><p><strong>Note: I hope you guys didn't really think I'd kill of Starscream! He's my favorite! Anyway, this is not the end yet, I just wanted to add; if you wanted to know where I got the design of Stillenight, it's from the comic Megatron Origin, one of my favorite Transformers comic. Volume 2 is where you see Megatron take his helm off and personally...I like him with helm off. Pretty cool guys. Thank you all for the reviews and I'll see y'all next chapter!<strong>


	9. Chapter 9

**Title:** Keep It Together

**Author: **DeviousGypsy

**Summary:** Unbeknown to anyone else, Starscream is a young Seeker. So when he hits his first heat cycle, he has no idea how to handle it. His trine tries to help but the plan falls apart and brings Megatron and Starscream together in a strange way...only to have Starscream ripped from Megatron's servos.

**Warnings:** Slash, mech-preg, the like :P

**Pairings:** Megatron/Starscream, Thundercracker/Skywarp

**Chapter:** IX

**Notes:** Kind of short, but I needed to wrap things up. See the end note for more details about a possible second and some drabbles.

Orn = Roughly 4.7 Earth days, Vorn = 83 Earth years, Breem = 1 Earth minute, Stellercycle = 1 Earth month, Megacycle = 1 Earth hour

–

The next morning Starscream woke up in the berth, the sparklings tucked against him and relaxing in his warmth, yet Megatron had already left. Too proud to admit that that was a hard blow, Starscream sat up, causing Venom to fuss but eventually snuggle against Stillenight. Surprisingly they didn't seem to be hungry, Megatron must have fed them before he left.

Optics turning towards the desk, Starscream noticed that there was another cube of energon sitting there for him. Standing from the bed, Starscream made his way to the cube, taking a few sips as he leaned against the desk, optics on his recharging sparklings. He couldn't help the frown on his faceplates when the thought of how distant Megatron was being to him came up. Admittedly he knew the older mech had duties as their leader, but he couldn't help but feel like Megatron was deliberately keeping his distance.

Starscream wouldn't admit it, but the idea stung. He hadn't been entirely pleased to find that he had interfaced with Megatron and gotten sparked in the process. Starscream had adored Megatron before, but when the war got to the point where there seemed to be no end, Megatron changed. Starscream didn't know who he was anymore, and knew that whatever attempt to get close to the Decepticon leader with be thwarted, so he had given up trying. Now the proof seemed to be in front of his face, maybe Megatron really didn't like him, maybe all Starscream was good for _was_ his skill in the sky and now that he had to take care of the sparklings he was useless.

Setting the empty cube back down on the desk, Starscream made his way back to the berth, sitting down while draping a servo over the sparklings, practically covering them, as his thoughts went back to Megatron. Maybe he would get rid of him soon, after all; Megatron had the sparklings, he'd raise them to be his heirs, he didn't need him anymore. For a moment Starscream wondered why it mattered at all, what did Starscream care if Megatron wasn't pleased with him. He'd handled it before, why was it so different now?

He already knew the answer. They'd shared sparks, something Starscream had never done with another bot before. Though they were high off Starscream's heat, they had shared the most intimate part of them. They had created life together, and that seemed to only intensify the feelings Starscream had once suppressed, the awe and adoration Starscream held for Megatron. He hung his helm in shame, knowing that these feelings and thoughts were unattainable, something he'd never achieve. No matter how badly he wanted it.

–

He couldn't stay in his own quarters, how pathetic was that? Pathetic enough that he spent his time making it look like he actually had something to do so that no one would suspect that he was actually hiding from the Seeker he had cooped up in his quarters. Resting his helm in his arm as he sat back in his throne, Megatron let out a silent growl. He couldn't help it, every time he was near the Seeker that's all his spark wanted to do was join with him, make them a proper family.

That was just weak, if he bonded them and Starscream were to deactivate-as he had proved to be very good at-he'd deactivate as well. Let alone if the Autobots found out, they'd think he was weak, they'd target Starscream or worse yet the sparklings. The sparklings, they had inadvertently gotten to him. Not only were they something created from himself and the mech he'd repressed feelings for for countless vorns, but they had almost been snatched from him, they and Starscream. That alone should have told him to make the seeker his, to show everyone that Starscream was his and not to be touched.

And the smallest sparkling, the one that had almost deactivated. He remembered watching the little frame seize up, whole frame going tense before going limp all together, still silent as ever. Megatron couldn't help it when he stood, going over to his sparkling and feeding him his energon and doing whatever Hook instructed to keep the sparkling online. The sparkling was small, whereas the larger one could fit in the palm of his servo, he could fit two of the smallest in his hand. Making a mental note to ask Starscream about their names, he figured that at one point he'd have to speak to the Seeker.

Standing from his throne, Megatron strode out of the Command Centre, turning down the corridor to his quarters. Typing in the override codes that no one knew but himself, he couldn't help the spark of anger and slight fear when he found the berth empty. "Starscream," he growled, hoping to get the Seeker's attention. Turning towards the back end of his quarters he heard the sound of running water, which told him where Starscream was but didn't tell him where the sparklings were. "Starscream," he called out again, louder so that Starscream could hear him over the water.

"I'm in the wash racks," the Seeker's voice called out, stating the obvious.

"Where are they?"

"The sparkling?" Starscream asked, before answering the question knowing that it was obvious. "Hook took them for a diagnostic, just to see how they're adapting to the change in location and air." That made sense, it was dangerous to take a sparkling from the Ark to the underwater base of the Nemesis, different air pressures around them. Before Megatron really knew what he was doing, the Decepticon leader opened the doors to his own personal wash racks. Starscream's helm immediately turned in his direction, the Seeker's optics showing curiosity and slight irritation. "If you'd wait a breem, I can finish and you can have the wash racks all to yourself."

Megatron ignored him, striding closer as he reached a servo out to grasp his Seeker's wing making a content noise in the back of his vocalizer. Starscream wanted to take a step back, but at Megatron's touch and close proximity, his smothered feeling from this morning were starting to resurface. "M-megatron?" Starscream asked, tentative so as not to get a backhand or worse.

Shockingly, instead of hurting the confused Seeker, Megatron leaned down and captured Starscream's lips with his own. Ignoring the startled gasp the Seeker had let out, Megatron pressed himself against the Seeker's frame, keeping one hand on the sensitive wing as he did. At some point the Seeker had started to contribute to his actions, even opening his mouth to him when Megatron ran his glossa over Starscream's lips.

Starscream wasn't entirely sure what was going on, though his frame did the reacting for him; already succumbing to his leader's caresses on his wing. Though it ended as quickly as it began, Megatron released a growl, his optics dulling as he seemed to be trying to pull himself together as he turned and left he wash racks. Left overheated and heaving air from his vent, Starscream glared at the door that Megatron had just left through.

Turning off the water, Starscream marched out of the room as well, not caring if he was still dripping water from his plates. Megatron sat on the berth, servos clasped together tightly as he rested his chin on them, glaring at the wall in front of him. Letting out a growl to get his leader's attention, Starscream clenched his servos together tightly at his side. "What the frag is wrong with you?" He shouted, "You can't just walk in there, have your way, and then leave! It may have happened once but I'll be the first one to say that we were _both_ taken advantage of by that damn heat!"

Watching as Megatron tilted his helm downwards and offlining his optics, Starscream's anger rose as it seemed that Megatron was breaking away from him again. Ignoring him. "Answer me this, _Mighty Megatron_. Are you going to keep me in this room as a prisoner? Just because of the sparklings? Because I'm sure that we both have the processor capability to keep away from each other and still have access to the sparklings." Starscream paused, spark clenching as he decided to lay his fear out there, better to get it over with than having to watch his back every breem. "If you want to get rid of me because I am weak and you don't think I can preform my duties as your Second and Air Commander, I'd prefer you to get rid of me now." When Megatron still didn't say anything, Starscream frowned. "Soundwave would be happy to take my place, you always liked him better anyway."

"What are their names?" Megatron put in, his voice so uncharacteristically low that Starscream almost didn't hear him.

"Their names," Starscream repeated, as if assuring himself that that was what he had heard. "The Seekerling is Stillenight, the other is Venom."

Megatron nodded at that, reaching a servo out to grasp Starscream's arm and pull him onto the berth next to him. Locking optics with his Seeker, Megatron frowned. "I do want you beside me, Starscream," Megatron admitted, seeing the fear of being replaced in Starscream's optics. "I don't want you to ever leave my side again, but I feel that if I act upon, whatever this is, then it's just another weakness for the Autobots to attack."

Seeing the truthfulness in Megatron's words Starscream frowned, "The sparklings and I would not be a weakness, if anything the sparklings just give us a reason to fight harder, another reason for victory."

Turning, Megatron paid a strong servo on the Seeker's chest, pushing the sleek frame back on the berth as Megatron crawled on top of him. "And if I bonded with you?"

Running a blunt finger down the front of Megatron's chassis, tracing the Decepticon symbol there, Starscream smirked. "Then we'd be an unmatchable force on the battlefield, knowing each other's moves before we made them ourselves."

Megatron smirked at that, opening his mouth to respond before the door to his quarters beeped, once at first, before being pressed continuously by whomever was outside. A growl escaped the large silver mech, "Seeing as it's probably your obnoxious trine mate, I'm going to the wash racks."

Starscream watched as Megatron left the berth and headed for the door the two of them had just left through moments ago. Sighing as Starscream had been overheated then left twice now, he swore that his trine mates had better have a good reason for disturbing them or he'd punch them both in the face. Opening the door he was immediately jumped on by Skywarp, Thundercracker standing back in the hallway as he watched his bond mate attack their leader.

"What?" Starscream growled, struggling to get out of Skywarp's grasp. The purple and black Seeker smiled widely, letting Starscream go as he stepped back.

"I'm sparked!"

–

**And that I'm afraid is the end of this particular story. Quite a happy ending I think! Anyway, I may do a second story to this, I may not. What I am going to do is have a story with a bunch of drabbles relating to this story; either before, during, after. What I need is requests from you guys, either put them in a review or PM me your requests and I'll be posting a collection of them as soon as I get the first one done. It can be about the Autobots, the Decepticons, or the sparklings, your choice. First request gets first chapter! So review or PM me and I'll get started as soon as possible! Love you all! And thanks so much for all the amazing reviews and for sticking with me.**


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